


The Duality of Dr Hypatia

by leonanette



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Low Chaos (Dishonored), Low Chaos Emily Kaldwin, Rewriting Dishonored 2 again, Spoilers, The Crown Killer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-12-20 05:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11913879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonanette/pseuds/leonanette
Summary: What if Emily didn't learn about the Crown Killer's true nature until much later? What if the Crown Killer watched Emily as she went through Karnaca, judging her actions and deciding where her loyalties truly lie?





	1. The Good Doctor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, surprise, I'm rewriting Dishonored 2 again! I know I'm not the only one who thinks the Crown Killer was wasted as a character/antagonist. So, I've decided not only to write an AU where the Crown Killer's true identity is revealed later in the game and, just to give myself a challenge, (*spoilers*) write Dr Hypatia as having something closer to genuine Disassociative Identity Disorder rather than Hollywood's version of multiple personalities. So, here goes.

_“Addermire Institute’s been closed for nearly two years. The official line is that it was taken over by bloodflies during one of Dr Hypatia’s experiments but it’s rumoured that the Duke took it over to make it into a new prison. It’s the perfect place to make someone disappear. That’s why rich folk shipped their mad relatives to Addermire back in the old days.”_

Now Emily was there, she had to admit Meagan had a point. The place was so far flung from the shore that she could scream at the top of her lungs and no one in Karnaca would hear. Even if they did, the only ways across were across choppy waters or on heavily guarded carriages.

“ _We need to find Sokolov and any leads on the Crown Killer but see if you can find Dr Hypatia as well. A year ago, her colleague, Dr Miria Croton told the press that Dr Hypatia contracted an illness from one of her experiments but something tells me not to trust her an inch. See if you can find out the truth and get Dr Hypatia out of there. She’s one of the best things that happened to Karnaca. Sokolov would never forgive me if I left her to rot.”_

That was just what Addermire was doing – rotting. Chairs, gurneys and beds were piled up under stairs and in corners, damp was creeping almost up to the ceiling, leaks were left without even a bucket beneath them and the potted plants in the foyer extended five feet over the floor. The cold smell of mould mingled with the pervading stink of sour blood, making Emily grateful for her scarf.

She made it past the Wall of Light and came across two Grand Guard playing dice.

“Just what kind of illness does Dr Hypatia have anyway?” The younger one asked his fellow.

“Something you don’t want, that’s for sure. Dr Croton says it’ll kill you slowly once you get it so send the food by dumbwaiter and don’t go near Recuperation.”

“You’re sure she’s gonna die?”

“Dr Croton reckons so. Talked to her this morning and she told me Hypatia’s on the way out. Croton said her last wish was to keep everyone away and burn her body quick so no one else gets it.”

“Sounds just like Hypatia. Damn shame. Why do the good ones always die?”

A sorrowful silence followed and the pair didn’t resume their game. Emily, on the other hand, was spurred into action. Using Far Reach, she made her way past them and, in a minute, she was at the door to Recuperation.

The first thing she met was a barrier of bloodfly nests. They had built up in every corner of the corridor and even partially closed it up. Emily only had enough incendiary bolts to take out the first five and she had to rely on a few luckily scattered bottles of flammable rum.

 _Just what do they think they’re doing, letting these things sprout up close to Dr Hypatia?_ Emily thought, brushing dead bloodflies off her coat and swigging a bottle of health elixir, _It’s almost as if they were put there on purpose._ Glancing down, she found herself looking at a corpse. By his dress, he had been a doctor but his face was too swollen with bloodfly stings to be recognisable so she had to rely on the name ‘Vasco’ sown onto his coat to identify him.

Once the clean-up was done, Emily could open the door leading into a spacious laboratory. Directly to her left sat the dumbwaiter, overflowing with trays of food in various states of decomposing.

_Dr Croton’s got a lot to answer for._

A weak voice reached her ears, “Is...is someone there...? Please...could you help me?”

On a gurney in the middle of the room lay a thin woman under a thinner sheet connected to half a dozen tubes in her arm and chest. Her face had a deathly pallor, her hair hung lank around her face and she seemed unable to even lift her head but her eyes were still alive, still lucid.

“Are you Dr Hypatia?” Emily asked, pausing near the bottom of the staircase.

“Yes...Don’t worry, I’m not contagious...You can come closer...”

Emily approached and lowered herself to Hypatia’s level, “That’s strange. I’ve heard people say you are.”

“Oh...that’ll explain why no one’s come...There must have been a misunderstanding...”

Emily had the distinct feeling that it was anything but a misunderstanding but didn’t voice her thoughts.

“How long have you been here?”

“I’m not sure...I’ve lost track of time...Where’s Miria? I haven’t seen her for a long time.”

“I haven’t come across Dr Croton yet. Is there anything I can do to help?” Emily offered up one of her health elixirs.

“Oh, thank you.” Dr Hypatia allowed Emily to feed her the elixir until the bottle was empty. Her pallor didn’t change but her voice was a little stronger, “I feel a little better for that but I really do need my medicine.”

“Where’s your medicine?”

“Miria took all of the bottles and the formula. You see, as it is, it only alleviates that symptoms rather than eliminating the disease. She said she wanted to improve it, to find a complete cure. I haven’t heard from her since. She must be having difficulties. I know I did when I first created it.”

“I’ll go and get it.”

Emily left Recuperation and headed straight for the lift. She had a strong feeling that she knew what Croton’s real intentions were. If Croton was pretending to work on Dr Hypatia’s formula, she’d probably be in the good doctor’s office on the top floor.

She pressed the button and the door closed. Before the lift could move an inch, something heavy thumped on top of it. Emily looked up at the open hatch and her eyes met a flaming yellow one, glaring out from a bandaged face.

“You’re not wanted.” A raspy female voice growled, “You weren’t invited here.”

The face pulled back and, a blink later, there was a loud clang and the lift gave a heart-stopping jerk to the side. Emily realised what was happening in a cold rush and threw herself at the doors. She wrenched them apart and leapt out not a second too soon. Her toes had just cleared the lift when it plummeted down the shaft.

The almighty crash as it hit the ground was enough to rouse the whole Grand Guard contingent. Distant voices from the other floors could be heard.

“What in the Void was that?”

“Was that the lift?”

Emily turned back to the lift and saw those yellow eyes fixed on her from the lift shaft. The Crown Killer clung like a lizard to the lift shaft, bearing sharp grey teeth between the metal, “Stay away from us! Stay away from Alexandria! If you come near her again, I’ll grind your skull into dust and your brain to jelly!”

She gave a start like a frightened animal and jerked her head back towards the stairs. The sound of Grand Guard voices were getting closer. She opened her mouth wide and let out an ear-splitting shriek.

“What was that?”

“Was that even human?”

As agile as a monkey, the Crown Killer skittered up the shaft. The sound of many pairs of feet and many voices were drawing swiftly near. Emily had only a few frantic seconds to Reach back into Recuperation. She closed the doors just in time before the Grand Guard reached the landing. Eye glued to the keyhole, she saw at least half a dozen crowd around the lift.

“Looks like that’s what caused it.”

“Always knew that was gonna give out sooner or later.”

“What about the scream?”

“You don’t think someone was in there, do you?”

“Whoever it is, they’ll be completely crushed by now.”

“Don’t you think someone oughta go down and check if they’re still alive?”

“You go if you’re so worried. It serves ‘em right for being on the rusty old thing if you ask me.”

Emily sank against the wall and took a few deep calming breaths, _So, that was the Crown Killer. Sounds like she’s close to Dr Hypatia. I’ll have to ask her about this once I’ve given her the medicine._

Once all the Guard had dispersed, Emily took the stairs up to the top. A luckily placed notice on the door of Dr Hypatia’s office told her that Croton had taken up residence in the outside building.

The Heart gave a phantom beat in her palm and, when summoned, indicated a shrine to the Outsider near the top of the building. Deciding that she may need the extra power before facing an unknown opponent, Emily Reached up to the roof of the outside building and through a small open window at the very top of Addermire.

What she found was what had once been a utility room for the lift but had been converted into what could only be described as a den. Odd little ornaments and random pretty things were dotted around the tables. Among them was a rose-patterned thimble, a bunch of bright bird feathers, a Grand Guard model with an arm missing, a tarnished brass plaque bearing Dr Hypatia’s name and a multi-coloured pack of marbles.

Emily remembered making little dens like these in the hidden corners of Dunwall Tower and hoarding little knick-knacks she liked too much to leave alone, _But, what child could get all the way up here?_

The rest of the room was separated from the childhood den by a roughly hung curtain stolen from the lounge and told a different story. Most of it was taken up with a roughly made Outsider shrine and the floors and walls were daubed with whale oil blue occult rings and symbols. Animal bones, bottles of strange things Emily didn’t want identified, strange crystals and poisonous-looking plants were arranged on a nearby table, ready for use. A book of black magic lay open on the floor, detailed a spell to bring about the death of an enemy.

She stepped in front of the shrine and lay her hands on the runes. With a slight shuddering, the shrine and the whole world seemed to break apart and she was once again standing in the Void, face to face with the Outsider.

“I see you’ve found the Crown Killer’s lair. Not what you were expecting, was it? For all her killer strength, the Crown Killer is very much a child and, like you were at that time of life, she’s just a pawn to a much greater power. I’ve existed longer than the rock Addermire is built on and I know that pawns have a habit of becoming more important than anyone could have known. You’re one such such pawn and the Crown Killer will be too.

“In case you’re wondering, the target of her ritual is Dr Miria Croton. She and Dr Hypatia studied at the Academy of Natural Philosophy together and, while they were both brilliant minds, Dr Croton was never quite as good as Dr Hypatia. I think you’ve already worked out how Dr Croton intends to pay her back for it. The Crown Killer asked me to strike Croton dead as retribution but I think I’ll let you decide her fate.”

The Void and the Outsider vanished in a flash of bright light and Emily was once again standing before the shrine the room atop Addermire.

She didn’t have time to think over the Outsider’s words. A high shriek came from behind her. The Crown Killer was standing in front of the open window, her eyes blazing with fury. In a blink, she had crossed the room and slammed Emily hard against the wall.

“ _How dare you!_ ” The Crown Killer shrieked, sending spit and acrid breath into Emily’s face, “ _This is my private room! It’s private! Get out! Out! OUT!_ ”

At the last word, she raised Emily bodily off the floor and hurled her at the window. Emily flew through it and landed hard on her shoulder upon the opposite roof. She rolled three times before she could stop herself and looked up to see the window had been closed tight.

Emily groaned and rubbed her pained shoulder, feeling for any dislocated or broken bones. She should have at least dislocated her shoulder from that impact but a few tests showed her arm was working normally. Perhaps, the Outsider’s mark made her body more resilient.

The Crown Killer didn’t seem to be in the mood for a chase so Emily decided to go back to hunting Croton. She Reached down to the courtyard and crept through an open door into the outside building. Dr Croton’s laboratory was one of the first rooms she came across and had a helpful vent with a good sturdy pipe Emily could stand on to watch her.

Dr Croton was standing at a table, preparing an audiograph. Her white doctor’s coat didn’t conceal the fact that her clothes looked too good to be working in. Her pale blonde hair was pulled back in a sensible bun but it was ruined by the blue hat decorated with long feathers.

When she spoke into the audiograph, she sounds just as upper-class and snobbish as Emily thought she’d be, “Hear ye, hear ye, you dregs of Karnaca. Guess what? Dr Hypatia’s dead and you know why? Because, she had ideas above her station. She thought she was better than me. Right from the moment we met, she was always showing off and making me look second rate. Her, who came from the lowest pits of the city while I came from the noblest of the Empire! It was not to be endured!

“The Duke thinks so too and told me personally that he would rather have me in charge of Addermire. So, when stupid little Alexandria made herself poorly from all her silly little experiments, I left her to her fate. It’s her own fault and now I’m the one who decides which of you little insects gets a cure so you had better start showing me the respect you wasted on her or I’ll leave you all to die!”

She turned off the audiograph and took out the card a giggle, “Oh, that felt good. Alright, Miria, you’ve had your fun. Time to be serious now.” She tossed the card into the waste paper basket and put in a new card into the machine. She cleared her throat and said in a slower, more mature tone.

“Good people of Karnaca, it is with the heaviest of hearts and the deepest of sadness that I announce the passing of Dr Alexandria Hypatia. While she was working on a cure for the bloodfly plague, she contracted a mutated strain of the disease and, though we both did our best to cure her, she didn’t make it. For me and for all those who knew her, this is a deep personal loss.

“Alexandria gave everything she had to helping the city and I will do my very best to uphold her legacy as I assume the post of Head Alchemist. If you want to uphold her legacy, Karnaca, you must do the same as she. Give all you have to make Karnaca great, even if disease takes you. I will continue Alexandria’s research into bloodfly fever and I swear to you that I will find you the cure.”

 _Double-crossing bitch._ Emily thought as Croton laid the second audiograph on her desk. Through her anger, a plan started to form. She silently dropped down from her pipe as Croton crossed to the door and poked her head out. Quick as she could, Emily picked the first audiograph out of the bin and swapped it with the second. She Reached back up to the pipe just as a Grand Guardswoman entered.

“Captain Vallette, I’m sorry to say that Dr Hypatia is likely to die tonight.” The guardswoman’s face fell and, as Emily had hoped, Croton handed her the first audiograph, “I’ve got her vitals signs connected to a bell outside so, once they stop, you’ll know. She wouldn’t want any of you getting sick on her account so just put her straight in the coffin I’ve set up outside Recuperation and cremate her remains in the morgue. No hanging around, understood? Once that’s done, take this to the Karnaca Broadcasting Station and have it played right away.”

Emily grinned as the guardswoman took the audiograph with her. That was Croton’s eternal disgrace sorted out. Now, for the medicine.

Croton busied herself with writing at her desk and Emily dropped off the pipe again. Finding the medicine and the formula proved to be easier than she thought. It was at the back of one of the little cabinets on the other side of the room. Emily had the strong suspicion that Croton hadn’t touched them since bringing them to her office.

She slipped out and, listening for guards and Crown Killer alike, and returned to Recuperation. Dr Hypatia was just how Emily had left her, wan and just hanging on.

“Excellent. Is that the original formula? Is that a clean needle? Good. Just inject it here.”

Emily injected the substance into the place on her arm Dr Hypatia indicated and watched its effect. It was almost immediate. A faint pink came back into her cheeks and, a minute later, she had pulled herself up to a sitting position.

“There. I feel much better now. If you’ve got the formula, I can start making more right away. Have you talked to Miria? Has she made any progress with it?”

Emily had no time for tact, “No. She was keeping it in her office and didn’t do any work on it. She withheld your medicine deliberately so she could take over Addermire once you died.”

Dr Hypatia stared at Emily, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Then, she shook her head, “No, no, you’ve got it all wrong. Miria’s my best friend. We’ve known each other since childhood. She can’t want me dead.”

“She can and she does. It sounds like the Duke feels the same so you need to disappear for a while and I’ve got a good idea of how to do it.”

Dr Hypatia blinked as if a blinding light had hit her eyes, “This is just – just bewildering. I’m sorry but I can’t go into hiding. The workers need me and I just can’t leave my work.”

“It’ll only be for a short time. We can’t let Croton take over Addermire. She doesn’t care about the workers like you do. If you want to help the workers, you’re going to have to pretend to be dead for a bit.”

“Dead? Isn’t that a little extreme?”

“It’s the only way to ensure your safety and bring down Croton. I’ve already ensured that everyone will know her true self but, to get that message broadcast, you need to appear dead. The guards have been told that your disease is very contagious so your body needs to be burned right away. If the coffin is already closed by the time they get there, no one in their right minds will check the right corpse is in it. So, we need a body and there’s one conveniently placed outside the door.”

“A body?” Dr Hypatia interrupted, startled, “Who is it?”

“I’m not sure. The name on the coat said ‘Vasco’.”

“Vasco?” Dr Hypatia’s mouth hung open in shock. Then, her eyes filled with tears and she dropped her face into her hands, “How? Why? I don’t understand.”

“I’m only guessing,” Emily said, “but I think he might have realised what Croton was planning and tried to get you out of here but the bloodflies got him before he could reach you.” Dr Hypatia kept crying and, kicking herself for being insensitive, Emily added, “Look, this is probably the best chance at a decent burial he’s going to get and the best chance you have of getting out of here alive. I’m going to put Vasco in the coffin and, when I come back, I want you to disconnect those machines. That’ll set off a bell and the Grand Guard will take the coffin down to the morgue. Then, we’ll make our way out.”

She needed a minute more of crying and a few deep breaths before Dr Hypatia at last said, “Okay. You know best. Wait,” She looked up, rubbing her red eyes, “I don’t even know your name. If the Duke really wants me dead, he’ll have you killed for hiding me. I don’t want to put that burden on you.”

“Believe me,” Emily pulled down her scarf, “if the Duke finds me, you’ll be the last thing on his mind.”

Dr Hypatia’s eyes widened with amazement, “Empress Emily!” She made a clumsy seated bow, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“That’s the point. I’ve come to Karnaca to bring down the Duke and Delilah and I’m going to make the Empire a better place. I have a feeling that I’ll need you to do that so you need to get out of here alive. Now, will you work with me?”

Dr Hypatia’s eyes were still leaking tears and her cheeks were flushed but it took her only a breath to steel herself, “Alright. Just let me – actually, no. I want to remember Vasco as he was, not as he is now.”

Emily understood completely. If she’d had the choice, she would have chosen her last memory of her mother to be anything but a crumpled corpse.

Unwilling as she was to touch Vasco’s bloated body, she managed it with the help of a stray bedsheet wrapped around him and placed him in the prepared coffin. Dr Hypatia only needed to see Emily return to give a small nod and begin to disconnect the tubes from the machines around her.

“I won’t risk pulling these tubes out of my body until I’m fully recovered. I could hurt myself.” She explained when Emily raised an eyebrow.

It was good enough. Emily heard the distant sound of a bell ringing and the fainter sound of the Grand Guard approaching.

“Right, we shouldn’t be disturbed. So, before we go, I want to ask you something. What’s your relationship with the Crown Killer? She seems quite attached to you. She tried to crush me with a lift just for getting too close to you.”

Dr Hypatia looked startled at first and then her face fell again, “I was hoping it wasn’t her. On some level, I think I knew but I so wanted to be proved wrong.”

“So, you know her.”

“Yes. We used to be close but, three years ago, she became distant to me. She disappeared for weeks on end and at the same time as the murders. I didn’t want to think she could do this. I don’t understand.” She shook her head and pressed her hands to her eyes, “I never even knew she was in Addermire. If she still cares about me, why won’t she even talk to me?”

“So, you haven’t seen her in the last few weeks? You didn’t hear anything about her taking Sokolov?”

“Sokolov?” The colour Dr Hypatia had gained drained from her face, “Oh, no, please don’t tell me she’s hurt him!”

“I don’t know that yet. All I know is she took Sokolov and came back here.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Dr Hypatia pressed her hands harder against her face and, after a moment’s hard thought, said, “I do remember Miria talking about Sokolov during her last visit. She said she was expecting a visit from him to discuss bloodfly fever theories. I had wanted to see him but Miria said I was too sick and so I was at the time. She said that he was only coming for a brief visit then going onto to see Kirin Jindosh.” She shook her head as if trying to get rid of flies, “I thought it was odd. Sokolov and Jindosh never got along. Oh, dear. Oh, dear, I hope Jindosh doesn’t intend to harm him.”

“Okay. That’s enough to be getting on with. I have more questions for you but those can wait until you’re aboard the Dreadful Wale. Come on.”

Dr Hypatia swung her legs over the side of the bed, still trailing tubes, and stood. She only made it three steps before her knees buckled and she clung to the bed to support herself.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I hoped I’d be stronger”

 _Only one thing for it._ As gently as she could, Emily took hold of Dr Hypatia’s waist and pulled her up onto her shoulder.

“Oh, no need to strain yourself like this. I’m sure there’s a wheelchair around here somewhere - ”

“This’ll be quicker.” Emily told her.

It was, indeed. The Grand Guard were grouped around the foyer, all talking about Dr Hypatia’s ‘death’ with a pall of melancholy hanging over them. Those still scattered around the building were too distracted and demotivated to notice Emily sneaking past.

She had wanted to use as little of her powers as she could while Dr Hypatia was with her but, when she reached the back yard, she had no choice. Dr Hypatia didn’t notice her using Domino to take out two guards with one dart but there was no hiding the Reach needed to get to the Watchtower.

“Wh-what just happened?” Dr Hypatia squeaked when Emily landed on the Watchtower platform.

“Don’t worry. That was supposed to happen.” Emily said, pulling aside the whale oil tank and pulling it out one-handed. The Watchtower stopped dead and, looking over the railings, Emily could see Meagan’s skiff moving towards them. Another Reach and they were on the small dock.

“Could you warn me next time you do that, please? I feel a little queasy.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t be doing it again.”

Meagan’s stiff bumped against the dock and Emily carefully lowered Dr Hypatia into it.

“Dr Hypatia, I presume?” Meagan offered a threadbare blanket full of holes which Dr Hypatia wrapped around herself as gratefully as if it was brand new, “I’m Meagan Foster and I’m captain of the Dreadful Wale. If you’re here, you clearly need a hiding place and my ship’s as good as any.” She looked up at Emily, “Did you find Sokolov too?”

“No but I did find the Crown Killer. She tried to kill me twice.”

“Three’s a charm. We’d better get away before she makes a third attempt.”

Emily stepped into the boat, trying not to rock it too much, “Before we get back, can you take us somewhere close to the city? Where we can hear the city’s broadcast system?”

“That won’t be a problem. Plenty of little inlets no one knows about anymore. Why?”

“Oh, you’ll want to hear the next broadcast.”

Once they were sequestered in a tiny inlet full of rubbish, they only needed to wait a few minutes before the first audiograph was broadcast in its entirety.

Emily turned to Meagan and Dr Hypatia with a grin, “She thought she’d got rid of that audiograph. She was wrong.”

Meagan cackled, “You’re your father’s daughter, that’s for sure. I remember him doing that to Hiram Burrows and it’s still funny.”

“Even if Croton isn’t arrested for murder, her reputation is gone forever. She won’t be able to show her face in public and certainly will never take over Addermire.” Emily laughed, wishing she’d had the chance to see Croton’s face. She only stopped when she saw Dr Hypatia’s face, “Are you alright?”

“I’m stunned.” Dr Hypatia said in a small voice, “Totally stunned. All this time and I thought she was my friend.”

“She’ll live to regret this,” Meagan informed her tonelessly, “but her mistakes aren’t your responsibility. We need to get back to the Dreadful Wale. The wind’s picking up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope Grim Alex's introduction didn't feel too much like the beginning of Bioshock!
> 
> Sorry about the unoriginality of Dr Croton's elimination. I couldn't think of anything better.


	2. Eyes at the Keyhole

Emily couldn’t ask Dr Hypatia about the Crown Killer right away. The doctor had ordered in her own kind way to be left alone for the first evening, “The medicine I took will only keep me going for twelve hours. I need to make a lot more before it wears off.”

This gave plenty of time for Emily to collect all the questions she wanted to ask her and struggle to decide which she should ask first. When the next morning came, the door to the storeroom-turned-cabin Dr Hypatia occupied was ajar so Emily ventured to enter. Dr Hypatia was sitting at her desk, frowning at a piece of paper.

“Dr Hypatia, is this a good time to ask you more about the Crown Killer?”

Dr Hypatia sighed and pushed the paper aside, “Yes, this can wait.” She turned her chair around to face Emily, “I’ll tell you everything I can. Ask away.”

“You said that you two used to be close. You must know a lot about her.”

“I must confess that I don’t know an awful lot about her past. Sometimes, I don’t think even she knows. I first met her when I was treating a miner living in the Dust District. I heard her coughing and found her in a back alley, trying to warm herself by a little fire she’d made. She had a nasty case of black lung and, though I managed to stop its spread, her voice was permanently damaged. That’s why her voice is so raspy.

“I learned from the miners that she was homeless, a moonstruck outcast who could always be talked into parting with her wages before she could buy herself any food or shelter. No one knew her name. They just called her ‘Grim’. Perhaps a reference to her disfigured face. She caught a blast of steam in the face while she was working in the mines as a child and her permanent burns are the reason her face is bandaged and possibly the breakdown of her sanity. I so wish I could persuade the Duke to bring back the ban on child labour.

“I don’t think she knew much love in her life so, when I treated her, she became instantly attached to me. She would follow me around the Dust District, calling me her sister and eventually calling herself Grim Alex after me. I didn’t mind. She was harmless then and more scared of other people than they were of her. So, one day, I let her follow me home and eventually to Addermire. She made a nice assistant and Vasco was very kind to her. He encouraged her not to be as scared of other people and she even started to show some talent in medicine. I encouraged this as much as I could and she was just getting good enough to become a lower nurse when she was invited to a party. I don’t know where it was or who had invited her. She told me just before she left and I had no chance to ask. I wish I’d tried to stop her.

“Whatever happened, it changed her. She lost all interest in medicine and in me. She would disappear for long periods of time and, when she returned, she would just keep to her den at the top of Addermire and not answer any of my questions. When the murders started, I really didn’t want to think Grim Alex would be capable of such a thing but, when I visited the den, I could smell blood and she’d curtained off a part of it. I’m sorry. I know I should have said something but I didn’t want to believe it was her. I didn’t want to get her into trouble.

“I’ve been thinking it over. The most likely explanation to me is that she’s being forced into it by someone else. The Duke or this Delilah, perhaps.”

“Delilah seems likely.” Emily said, “She’d be able to give Grim Alex the power she needed and she’s cunning enough to twist her into a murderer.” _She twisted my guard captain into a traitor, after all._

“Poor Grim.” Dr Hypatia shook her head sadly, “She must be feeling so alone and so lost. You aren’t intending to kill her, are you?”

“If I was, I would have done it in Addermire. I won’t become the killer Delilah’s pretending I am.”

“Good. I want to hear her side of the story in all this and it’ll probably help you to hear it too. If you see her during your missions, tell her that I’m not angry with her. Tell her I want to know what happened and what I can do to help. I know this boat isn’t big but, if she needs to hide, perhaps Captain Foster can find a place for her.”

Emily privately thought that Meagan would have a stroke if it was suggested that she hide the Crown Killer on her boat. Emily herself would need to be thoroughly convinced that the Crown Killer wouldn’t tear them apart in their sleep before allowing her in but only said out loud, “Do you think she’ll stay at Addermire or go around looking for you?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve no idea what she thinks nowadays but, if you see her, pass on my message.”

After affirming she would, Emily bade her goodbye and went up to discuss plans with Meagan.

*

Upper Aventa sat just below Jindosh’s mansion, home to both nobility wanting to be the first to get their hands on his inventions and the Grand Guard enforcing a safe distance from it. It looked like not even bloodflies could deter nobles from being first in the queue if the large house full of nests and well-dressed bodies was anything to go by.

Perhaps, it wasn’t so surprising that no nobles made it out of the throne room alive. They’d probably been so dazzled with the prospect of witnessing the rise of a new Empress that they didn’t even notice the clockwork soldier ripping them to shreds.

Several cooked nests later, Emily dusted herself off and summoned the Heart. Before looking around properly, she gave it a little squeeze, just to hear what her mother would have to say.

“ _The Empire hangs in the balance, yes, but so does the mind of one who will prove pivotal in your journey. You have the power to tip the scale in either direction._ ”

“You were never so cryptic when you were alive. Is that the Outsider’s influence? Just how did you end up in this thing anyway?” These questions, as ever, went unanswered. Emily liked to think that her mother had begged the Outsider to let her be with her daughter in any shape or form. She banished the thought of the Outsider forcing this half-life upon her.

The Heart was pointing her towards a door leading towards a staircase, promising a rune in a room beyond. Emily tried the door but it wouldn’t budge. She lowered herself and pressed her eye to the keyhole. She thought she could see a pile of chairs and tables piled up to the side, _No way I’m getting through that way –_

Emily started and nearly lost her balance. She steadied herself with her fingertips but didn’t need to look again to check she really had seen a ball of angry yellow glaring back at her. Grim Alex’s voice was a low rumbling growl, “You little spider. Skittering and sneaking everywhere you’re not wanted. Stealing what isn’t yours.” Half a second pause later, she screamed, “ _You stole Alexandria! You took her from her home! Tell me where she is or I’ll tear off your skin and bind Alexandria’s books with it!_ ”

“I didn’t steal Dr Hypatia.” Emily said, straightening up and flicking out her sword, “I rescued her. Dr Croton was - ”

“ _I know what Croton was doing, stupid!_ ” The door shuddered with the force of a blow from beyond, “ _I was going to kill her for it but, now, you’ve taken that away from me! You’ve taken my sister away from me! Give her back! Give her back now! She’s my sister! I want her back!_ ” More crashes and bangs came from behind the door. It sounded as if the chairs and tables blocking it were being reduced to splinters.

_At least, I won’t have to worry about getting around them. If I can survive the fight, that is._

“Look, Dr Croton can’t hurt Dr Hypatia anymore. Dr Hypatia’s getting better and she wants me to tell you that she’s not angry with you for what you’re doing. She wants to help you. She thinks you’re being threatened into doing what you did.”

There was a pause in the destruction. No sound came from the other side of the door other from Grim Alex’s ragged panting. Then, she spoke in a quieter but no less angry voice, “She doesn’t know anything. She can’t know anything. All I’ve done to keep her safe, to keep her happy. The witch said it would get rid of the greedy Duke and get rid of the Empress that didn’t care but she lied. She lied to me and made me kill. She made me enjoy it.”

“You mean Delilah?” Emily took a little step closer to the door, “I’m working to get rid of the Duke and Delilah. I can help you.”

“You? _You? You can’t help! You can’t even kill! You can’t beat Delilah! You’re just a sneaking insect, hiding and stealing! You’ll be crushed by the Duke and then who’ll protect Alexandria?_ ”

“I don’t have to kill to protect someone.” Emily said, remembering Corvo’s advice to always keep calm in the face of extreme emotions, “I’ll prove that right now. My friend, Anton Sokolov is being held by Kirin Jindosh. I’m going to get him back and I’m going to do it without killing anyone or even letting anyone know I’m there.”

An admittedly bold promise but Emily had managed it in Dunwall Tower and Addermire before.

“What say you?”

All Emily got for an answer at first was heavy ragged breathing. Then –

“Fine. But, I’ll be watching you. I’ll always be watching you.”

There was the sound of retreating footsteps and the tinkle of breaking glass. When Emily looked through the keyhole again, she saw nothing but a clear doorway and a broken window on the opposite end of the hall.

Even though she couldn’t see her, Emily could feel the Crown Killer’s eyes on her as she discovered the rune and infiltrated the Clockwork Mansion.


	3. Close to Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm skipping over a couple of missions as they're not important to my Dr Hypatia and Grim Alex story. I felt they would just slow the story down if I wrote too much on them.
> 
> I've also added a rather sad backstory to Dr Hypatia so, be warned, emotional subject matter ahead.

Through a smashed vestibule window and many minutes spent dodging around a clockwork soldier (she’d decided that she really didn’t like clockwork soldiers), she managed to get to Jindosh unseen and destroy his mind even as his clockwork soldier patrolled, uncertain of whether it had detected an intruder or not.

The hardest part by far was getting Sokolov out. A clockwork soldier patrolled the mechanical maze where he was trapped and, several times, Emily had to skitter back and reactivate the first walls before the machine fully processed her presence. At last, she managed to master the puzzle and take Sokolov away to the carriage station, the clockwork soldier still idling.

The Crown Killer had followed her. Though Emily could never catch sight of her, she could feel her there. Almost as if she were breathing raggedly right down her neck. Emily stopped the carriage at Upper Aventa and returned to the infested house, thinking that the Crown Killer might want to speak to her on her achievement but she was nowhere to be found.

She was uninterrupted in her journey all the way back to the skiff. Emily left Sokolov with Meagan and returned to Lower Aventa to look for her. She didn’t like the idea of the Crown Killer knowing where she was hiding yet.

A few hops over lampposts and newly arrived witches later, Emily stood on the carriage station roof, scanning the street for any sign of the Crown Killer. She took out her spyglass and focused on the witches to listen to their conversation, thinking they perhaps had seen what Emily had not.

“Did you see Grim Alex earlier? What a foul temper she was in.”

“She’s foul-tempered and quick to strike all the time, sister. That is why Delilah chose her as her cat’s paw.”

“This time, she was worse. Someone took Grim Alex’s dear sister away right from under her nose and she’s been tearing the city apart to find her.”

“So, Dr Hypatia still lives?”

“Grim Alex seems sure of it. I don’t know whether to pity her for her loss or pity the person who stole Dr Hypatia.”

“Don’t pity at all, sister. It doesn’t do you any good.”

“ _Gossiping little piggies._ ”

Emily nearly fell of the roof in shock. The Crown Killer was standing right at her shoulder, glowering down at the witches. On instinct, Emily put a few feet of distance away from her, not just to get her out of striking range but to get away from the acrid smell of dried blood and rotting bloodflies.

“ _Simpering little toadies, always sucking up to Delilah. They hate me and I hate them too. I wish I could rip them apart. Pop out their arms and their legs and bash their little heads in with them - ”_

Emily summoned the Heart to her hand. She directed it at the Crown Killer and gave it a little squeeze.

“ _She prayed to the shrine for weeks, wishing for a way to make her sister happy. Her prayers were answered but at what cost?_ ”

“What was that?” To Emily’s alarm, the Crown Killer whipped around, sharp yellow teeth bared and her bulging yellow eye glaring at the Heart, “Is it coming from that? Is it talking about _me_?”

“I’ve saved Sokolov.” Emily cut across her, “And, I’ve taken out Jindosh without killing anyone. No one even knew I was there. Doesn’t that show you I can take care of Dr Hypatia?”

“You’ve just shown me that you’re a sneaking little eavesdropper. Using black magic to find out people’s secrets, sneaking into places you’re not wanted - ” The Crown Killer stopped dead and took a leap back, dangerously close to the edge, “How do I know you’re not with Delilah? You use magic and you have a disgusting thing that tells you secrets. You could be her spy. You could be tricking me into working against her so she can hurt Alexandria - ”

“I’m not working for Delilah.” Emily decided on a gamble and pulled down her scarf, “I’m the absolute last person who would work for her.”

That effectively silenced the Crown Killer. She just stood and gawped at Emily’s face for several long moments. Then, what little of her eyebrow visible between the bandages furrowed, “You’re the Empress. The Outsider chose the Empress as his agent and the Empress uses her powers not to kill. Not even people who deserve it.” She seemed to be talking more to herself than to Emily, struggling to fit the pieces together in her mind.

Emily decided to make everything very plain, “I’m not the killer Delilah likes everyone to think I am. Loyal to the Duke or not, the people of Karnaca are my citizens and I won’t treat them as enemies. Dr Hypatia is safe in my hands and, once Delilah’s lieutenants are taken care of, I’m going to take back my Empire with my own strength. Does that mean I’m going to have to go through you to do it?”

To her surprise, the Crown Killer flinched like a beggar dodging a thrown stone, “Leave me alone.” She groaned, “Just leave me alone. I don’t want to play anymore.”

With that, she ran to the edge of the roof and took a flying leap. She flew over the street and grasped a balcony on the opposite building. She scuttled up the wall and ran across the rooftops, away from the skiff.

 _Well, that was intriguing._ Emily thought. Before she put the Heart away, she gave it one last squeeze.

“ _Your decisions will either bring you more allies or make you more enemies._ ”

*

The next target was Breanna Ashworth. Emily had seen a silvergraph of her in Jindosh’s mansion with the Duke, Jindosh and the Crown Killer around them. While the others had looked proud and self-assured, the Crown Killer had looked like she wanted nothing more than to hide behind the Duke’s bulk and shield herself from the silvergraph’s glare.

“Dr Hypatia’s not good.” Meagan said after they’d established their plan of action on Ashworth, “She had a bad turn in the night and she’s very weak. We’ll have to pick up some more medical supplies while we’re out.”

“I only wish I could do more to help her.” Sokolov sighed, “She is a brilliant mind and we cannot afford to lose her. But, she won’t let me assist her research directly. She was always like that. Always taking everything on herself. It’s a tempting choice for a brilliant mind but not always a healthy one.”

Before going up to the skiff, Emily decided she couldn’t leave without checking up on Dr Hypatia. The door was closed but not locked. When she knocked, Dr Hypatia allowed her to come in and Emily found her stretched out on her cot, deep in thought while gazing up at the ceiling.

“How are you doing, doctor?” Emily asked, sizing up her wan face and damp brow.

“Oh, no need to worry about me. These weakness spells come and go. It’s something I haven’t been able to fix yet. I’ll be fine in an hour or two.”

“Meagan said you deteriorated in the night. I’m going out to the Royal Conservatory. Is there anything we can get you?”

“Oh, no, no need to trouble yourself with that. You’ve got quite enough to think about as it is.”

Emily frowned, “I’m the Empress. I have to think about everyone in my Empire and you’re the best hope Karnaca’s workers have for a safe future. You need to tell me what I can do to help you.”

Dr Hypatia looked like she was going to wave Emily away again but then said, “Oh, alright. There’s a list of ingredients that I’m running low on. I was going to give it to Meagan but, if you think you can get everything, you can have it.”

Emily found the list on top of a messy mile of papers. _Aloe leaves, dragon newt tails, musk rose petals, vervain roots, powdered celestite, obsidian…_

“I almost think medicine and witchcraft aren’t so different.” Emily said to no one in particular as she pocketed the list.

Dr Hypatia laughed, “You’d be forgiven for thinking so but all natural philosophers use those ingredients. We used to joke that we only put scientific names on the jars to keep the overseers away and even that doesn’t always work. I’ve been accused of witchcraft by the Abbey a few times for the things in my laboratory. I thought it was all just silly superstition but I suppose they have a point. Witches do exist after all.”

 _I wonder how many of those witchcraft reports were filed by Dr Croton._ Emily thought and said aloud, “Lucky they didn’t find Grim Alex’s room. It looked like she’d been moonlighting in black magic.”

She’d meant it as a light-hearted comment but Dr Hypatia’s mouth drooped into a melancholy frown at her words, “There seems to be a lot I didn’t know about her. You probably think I’m a very bad judge of character, don’t you? What with not turning Grim Alex in and not noticing how much Miria hated me. I know it’s made me question my whole view on life.”

Dr Hypatia left the statement hanging and Emily kept her seat, thinking she might have more to say. She was proved right when Dr Hypatia went on.

“And, I’d known Miria for so long. Right from school, when were just eight and nine. I have no excuse for not seeing her for what she was.”

“Some people are very good at hiding what they really think of you.” Emily said, several faces flashing before her as she spoke, “It sounds like Croton had been practising her whole life.”

“I suppose,” Dr Hypatia said, her voice taking on the slow deliberate pace of a doctor trying to diagnose a difficult disease, “it might have been because I was so upset at the time we first met. I’d just lost my mother, after all.”

The words hit Emily like a volley of bullets, “You lost your mother when you were a child?”

“Yes.” Dr Hypatia closed her eyes and Emily knew she must be willing back tears, “It was only a week or two after I’d been sent away to school too. I felt so guilty. I thought it was my fault, that I should have refused to go and I should have kept looking after her.”

“You were looking after her? But, you were just a child.”

“And, I was the only one who didn’t have to work long hours in the mines so, yes, I made up medicines from whatever herbs I could find and I nursed her myself.” Dr Hypatia sighed and tried to smile, “I know it sounds silly. In hindsight, all I did was show my parents that I had a talent for medicine. My mixtures back then weren’t nearly enough to cure her.”

A picture formed in Emily’s mind like a torn portrait being stuck back together. A little girl, taking on the massive responsibility of her sick mother. The sick mother, telling the girl’s father about her medicines. The girl’s father, scrounging up enough money to send her to school and take her away from a lifetime in the mines. The schoolgirl, weeping over a letter and carrying the misguided guilt for the rest of her life.

Perhaps, it was the subject of dead mothers that made her do it but she summoned the Heart to her hand and directed its attention to Dr Hypatia.

“ _All her life, she slaved to save lives. Not once was she allowed to be a child._ ”

“Still, what’s past is past and we shouldn’t let it stop us doing our duty. I’m keeping you from yours, aren’t I? Go on, do what you must and save the Empire.” Dr Hypatia lowered herself back onto the bed and Emily crept out of the room. Once the door was closed behind her, she deflated against the wall with a long, ragged breath.

She stood for a long moment, grappling with her emotions, holding the Heart in both hands and occasionally giving it a squeeze. The thought of giving the Heart to Dr Hypatia flashed across her mind several times but what comfort could she gain from a mother that wasn’t hers? And, even if Emily could capture the soul of Dr Hypatia’s mother, what gave her the right to pluck a soul from its eternal rest, even if it was for selfless reasons?


	4. A Crack in the Slab

The Crown Killer didn’t bother Emily on her mission to eliminate Breanna Ashworth but Emily couldn’t help but feel watched. Even when she was sequestered in the most secret corners of the Royal Conservatory, she expected to see a glaring yellow eye when she turned her head.

But, no. All she saw of the Crown Killer was more graffiti scrawled on bare surfaces, telling her that ‘The Crown Killer is Watching’. If anything, that was more unnerving. Had it been some delinquent’s idea of a joke? Or, a real threat?

Once Breanna was robbed of her powers, Emily next had to navigate the power struggle between Vice Overseer Byrne and Paolo. This was the most difficult choice she’d had to make so far. A zealot or a thug?

Just as she was making her way towards the Crone’s Hand, she remembered Campbell and Martin, changed her mind and started towards the Overseer Outpost. Then, she remembered Paolo’s threats to the black market shopkeeper in Lower Aventa and doubled back again. Her head was aching and she had to drop onto a stray crate in the soup kitchen, massaging her temples.

_How can I rule an Empire when I can’t even pick the lesser evil here?_

She turned her face up to the makeshift ceiling. It was a patchwork of spare metal sheets which rattled during current dust storms. The dust started to thin and, before it cleared, Emily’s eyes caught the shadow of a figure looking down through the biggest gap. It ducked away before the dust had fully cleared but Emily was more than familiar with that silhouette.

A few Far Reaches on some luckily-placed lampposts later, Emily had pulled herself up onto the roof. The Crown Killer hadn’t fled but stood about five yards away, glaring at her with the only eye visible through the bandages.

“You’ve not killed anyone. Not even those filthy fawning bitches in the conservatory. Why? Are you trying to prove something to me?”

“Not just you.” Emily said, “I’m going to prove to the Empire that I’m fit to be Empress, not a crazed murderer. No offence.”

The Crown Killer didn’t respond to her feeble attempt at humour but continued to glower, “You’ve been back and forth through the Dust District twice. Why won’t you act? Why are you even here? Byrne and Paolo aren’t involved with Delilah.”

“My business here is important and my own.”

The Crown Killer hunched down as if preparing to spring, “Stop talking to me like that. Like I’m going to run to Delilah with your secrets. I don’t want anything more to do with Delilah! She can be strangled by her vines for all I care. And, all of her little gutter rat collection too!”

Emily thought for a few seconds, wishing she could read minds or at least summon the Heart without winding the Crown Killer up further, “They have information I need to find the secret of Delilah’s immortality, which I believe is in Aramis Stilton’s manor. The only way to getting it is bringing one to the other.”

“You’re right. You’ll find what you’re looking for there.” The Crown Killer’s arm suddenly gave a violent jerk towards her own throat and she seized it with the other hand, “No. No, you’re not stopping me this time. I’m going to let her find out, even if you try to kill me.”

The Crown Killer opened her jaws and bit down hard on her jerking hand. Dark blood gushed out between her fangs and, despite groans of pain emitting from her throat, she worried at the hand like a dog with a stubborn joint of meat. What was worse, the hand was still jerking and thrashing, as if it truly was acting of its own free will.

Emily was just about to step in and pull it away when the Crown Killer finally released her hand, letting it flop back to her side, “There. Hope you felt that, sitting on that cold throne in Dunwall.” She spat out a mouthful of blood and turned panting back to Emily, “The Overseers picked up the Howler that was sending food to Stilton. The Howler’s dead now but they didn’t get the lock code. You just have to creep into the Overseer Outpost like a little mouse and find his belongings. Simple for you, huh?”

Her bloody teeth stretched into a grin that would make a shark turn and flee. Emily opened her mouth to ask what had just happened.

But, then, a warning horn throbbed through the air and a thick dust cloud swept over the two of them. Emily ducked back down into the building to avoid it and, when the storm had passed, the Crown Killer had vanished.

The Crown Killer turned out to quite correct. In Byrne’s office, Emily found a set of documents and instructions which handed her the perfect solution like a birthday present. She discovered the code in the silvergraph studio and, deciding that she didn’t need to get involved in Byrne and Paolo’s spat yet, went straight to Stilton’s manor, delighted with finding a neat solution.

All happy thoughts were drowned as soon as she entered Stilton’s manor. The very air seemed to sit heavy on her like a swarm of sleepy rats, sapping her magic and the sense of safety it had brought. The timepiece was something of a relief but, more than once, she’d had to zip back to the rotting wreck of the present to avoid astute guards from the past.

_Did they train them better three years ago? Or, am I getting too used to using magic?_

At last, she got into the back garden, where Aramis Stilton paced in the past and wondered whether he should attend the gathering. Emily decided to make the decision for him. She didn’t know whether it would make a difference as she choked him unconscious but, by a slight lurching of the timepiece, she knew something had happened.

When she skipped forward, she found not a wolfhound-infested wilderness but a well-kept garden not as lavish as the past but nicer looking for it. She would have liked it a lot better had not a maid been sweeping the terrace and spotted her, forcing her back to the past.

 _I’ll come back here when all this is over._ Emily thought, smiling to herself, _Stilton is as good a man as they say. I can’t wait for the day I can go into a house and not worry about being seen._

Again, her happiness was short-lived. The study was a mess of time distortion and the scene of Delilah’s resurgence from the Void played like living silvergraphs in the whale oil-daubed rooms. It repeated itself again and again with the monotony of a jammed audiograph but Emily’s eyes were on the grotesque effigy, receiving Delilah’s soul.

_So, all I need to do is to return Delilah’s soul to her body and she’ll be mortal again._

_But I can’t exactly cart that monstrosity back to Dunwall. I’d never get it on the skiff, never mind find space on the Dreadful Wale._

_Unless… I don’t really need the effigy. I only need Delilah’s soul. If I could just find something smaller –_

A phantom Heart-beat nudged her hand and Emily’s own heart plummeted straight through the floor. A lump rose in her throat like she’s swallowed a whole apple. All those half-formed dreams of summoning the Heart to her hand when she was back on the throne and facing advisors again came back in a rush, fracturing and shattering.

But, she was being selfish. Her mother wasn’t supposed to be trapped in the Heart and forced to tell secrets whenever Emily pleased. She needed to be at peace.

To defeat Delilah, Emily had to let her go.

Squeezing shut her blurring eyes, she turned away from the ritual and made her way up out of the library. She wiped her face and faced the first room just in time to see a new scene form. The Crown Killer and Delilah were standing alone in the middle of the room.

“Do you know why I called you to my resurrection, though you have no connection to me?” Delilah purred in that skin-crawling way of hers.

“Because, I want the Duke gone and the Empress gone too.” The Crown Killer snapped, full of her usual anger, “Why was he here? Why did you call him when you want him dead?”

“Patience, patience. You’re so full of fury that you can’t see the intricate webs I spin. If you had your own way, you would crash through all our fine work and bring us all to ruin. Listen, obey and you’ll have what you want. First, you have it in the wrong order. To dispose of the Duke, we must first remove the Empress. Then, we may prune the Empire as we see fit.

“Speaking of pruning, your life has become rather overgrown. To reach your full potential, we’ll have to cut out a few parts. The biggest canker is Dr Hypatia. Once we’re rid of her, you’ll be free to fulfil to your duties unhindered.”

“NEVER!” The Crown Killer screamed in her face.

Delilah smirked, “I like your fire. It could consume every unworthy soul in the Empire but Dr Hypatia seeks to douse it. She must die.”

The Crown Killer lunged and took a swipe at Delilah’s face. As quick as blinking, a blood vine shot out of the floor and pinioned both the Crown Killer’s arms behind her back.

“Didn’t sweet Alexandria teach you manners?”

“I won’t let you hurt her.” The Crown Killer tried to kick at Delilah and was rewarded with blood vines twisted around her legs, “I brought you out of the Void and I’ll put you back again!”

“Dear, dear, it looks like some more work needs to be done here before you can play your part. First, we must bond ourselves together. I give you my power and my mark upon your flesh. With it, you will have powers that ordinary souls could only dream of. Powers you will use to raise me up to the height of the Isles. You will be my arm, reaching out to pluck down sweet Empress Emily and crush all who oppose me.”

The bloodvine forced Grim Alex’s arm outwards and Delilah trapped it in a vice’s grip. Black and electric blue tendrils wrapped around Grim Alex’s arm, coming straight from Delilah’s heart.

The tendrils bound her arm and sealed themselves to her skin. She howled in agony and tried to free her other arm, to pull herself out of the bloodvine prison. The tendrils flowed through her body like poison, darkening her skin and making her howl even louder in agony. Forgetting what the vision was, Emily reached out to grab one of the bloodvines but her hand passed straight through it.

“What was the point of bringing me back in time if I can’t stop anything important?” Emily said to the air. No one in the room paid attention. Grim Alex kept on screaming and Delilah kept pumping more of her magic into her, distorting her limbs and staining her skin.

At last, the spell was complete. Grim Alex’s skin was completely taken over with the tendrils. They had sunk so far that they were as faint as her father’s scars.

“Magnificent.” Delilah admired her handwork like it was a painting. The bloodvines loosened and Grim Alex crashed to the floor in a heap, “I think we can come to an agreement. You must do exactly what I say and Dr Hypatia will be unharmed and unawares. It’s a good deal, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Grim Alex moaned.

The images dissolved and, a second later, reformed from the beginning. Unable to watch any further, Emily ran to the door and kicked it open, still steaming with impotent fury.

The Outsider either didn’t notice or care about her anger. He pulled her into the Void as she was about to leave the manor to give her some more information about his creation (the stone figures that made Emily shiver with unease) and a repetition of Delilah’s emergence. Though it was in his usual waxwork-like tableau, it were no less unsettling.

“Why did you give me the power to travel back in time if I couldn’t stop Delilah coming back?” Emily at last had to ask just as the Outsider was about to vanish from the scene.

The Outsider’s expression didn’t change but Emily thought she could detect a slight shrug in his shoulders, “Time was distorted in the Stilton house. An unintended consequence of the ritual to bring back Delilah and Delilah is far too cunning to allow any gap to widen so far as to tear apart her plans.”

“It almost sounds like she’s becoming more powerful than you.” Emily lashed out more out of spite than genuine observation.

She was rewarded by a slight wrinkling of his nose and a repetition of, “She’s become a part of me and I don’t like it.”

He vanished in a rush of wind before Emily could needle him further and, when she left the Void, she was once again outside the Stilton Manor, the timepiece little more than a useless trinket. She tossed it aside and it vanished into smoke before it hit the ground. The avenues to the Overseer Outpost and the Howler hideaway had been blocked off but the buildings still looked as dust-flooded and rundown as ever.

_I’d hoped to make more of a difference with regaining Stilton’s sanity._

At least, the statue of Theonidas was still as polished as it had been, _If only I’d had the chance to meet him._

She stood for a moment, looking up to that upturned face. When her eyes lowered to the path ahead, a shadow at his feet caught her eye. A second of staring made her realise that it was Grim Alex, crouching in Theonidas’ shadow and staring at her.

“You changed time.” She accused, “I felt it. No one else did but I felt it. You brought Stilton back from madness.”

“I couldn’t stop Delilah doing what she did to you.” Emily felt that it was better to introduce an apology than to wait for the allegation to be laid, “I’m sorry. I wanted to.”

Grim Alex shook her head, “I can’t even be angry with you anymore. I was angry with you for so long and now I can’t. Delilah lied to me and used me. She’s not going to make things better. She only cares about herself. She made me a monster and I’ve killed so many people. I can’t take it back. I can never make it up. Alexandria will never forgive me!” She pressed her fists to her face and began to sob.

If anyone had said to Emily, even yesterday that she would be approaching the Crown Killer and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, she would not have believed them. Yet, she did so. Close up, she could see the faint criss-crossing scars of the bloodvines all over her hands. Faint but still a reminder of agony.

“It’s not too late to make it up.” She soothed, “Leave Delilah and join us. I’m coming for the Duke next and, then, Delilah. I’ll free you from her curse.”

Even as she said it, the mark gave a little tingle and glowed with a soft green and yellow light, unlike the magic summoned with her powers. The Crown Killer moved her fingers aside to look down. Her watery eyes were confused but not angry and she didn’t pull away. Magic flowed through Emily and into the Crown Killer, probably straight from the Outsider.

The light faded and the spell ended after a few moments. The Crown Killer and Emily stared at one another for a long few seconds.

“How do you feel now?” Emily ventured.

The Crown Killer paused and said in a calmer voice, “I can’t feel Delilah in me as much as before. She’s still there but far away. Wait,” She turned towards the street leading away from the Dust District, “I think...I hear guards. I…don’t want to kill them. Delilah is telling me to rip them apart but...I don’t want to. I can choose not to.” She gave a little laugh, “I can choose again!”

“Good.” Emily felt a little better towards the Outsider for this unasked-for gift, “So, what do you choose to do?”

“I choose…I choose helping you. I want to pull Delilah back into the Void. Back where she came from. Where I can’t hear her anymore.”

“Alright,” Emily nodded, “but we need to take care of Duke Luca first. I’ll pay a visit to his palace tomorrow.”

“Yes, I know the palace well.” The Crown Killer nodded, “We used to meet in his vault and discuss their little schemes. I’ve crept and crawled around the streets about the palace. I know where your boat may dock. I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay, then. Keep yourself hidden until then and, if anyone attacks you, just run. Don’t fight back.”

“I won’t. I won’t.” The Crown Killer said with the pride of a child getting top marks, “I don’t want to attack anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt I ought to put in a bit more of Emily's thought processes as she realised what she would have to do to capture Delilah's spirit. I'm rather disappointed at Emily in the game for just silently accepting it.
> 
> Hope the Outsider severing the Crown Killer's connection with Delilah through Emily doesn't feel too much like a deus ex machina. I couldn't think of any better way to do it.
> 
> Also, in my headcanon, this would be the point where the biggest split between Low and High Chaos would take place. In High Chaos, the Crown Killer wouldn't resist Delilah's magic, wouldn't be nearly as friendly and she and Emily certainly wouldn't agree to team up to take on Duke Luca. I might do a spin-off High Chaos fanfic of this when I've finished my High Chaos playthrough.
> 
> You can keep track of my progress through my High Chaos Diary on tumblr here: http://leonanette.tumblr.com/tagged/high-chaos-diary


	5. The Grand Palace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'm going in to the last few chapters, I'm going to be posting one every week rather than two. I don't want to give everything away too quickly.

It was strange to wake up the next morning and remember that the Crown Killer was now her ally. Almost as strange as going back to the skiff the previous day and finding Meagan with two eyes and two arms. She had never got a good answer when she asked Meagan how she had lost her eye and arm and, now that time had put them back, she would never know.

Dr Hypatia still kept to her cabin but was apparently well enough to work. Emily could hear the clinking of scales and the fizz of chemicals from within. She decided to respect the ‘please do not disturb’ sign attached to the door. She knew from the many times she’d barged in on Sokolov that disturbing a Natural Philosopher was bound to cause calamity.

Meeting Stilton on the deck of the Dreadful Wale was the second surprise. A Stilton with tidy hair and fine (but not overly-fancy) clothes was yet another. The third came in his easy, friendly manner. In this time, he had been a close ally of hers.

How many conversations with him had she missed? How much easier had he made things for her? More things she would never know.

Who would have thought that changing time for the better would so frustrating?

She hadn’t told any of them about persuading the Crown Killer to join them. It was so unbelievable, even to herself, that she felt that she ought to let the Crown Killer prove herself as an ally before letting everyone in on it. She didn’t want them adding to her doubts and fears of future betrayal.

They only got worse as Meagan pulled the skiff up to the Ravina Boulevard dock. Emily took every step with a shake in her knee, expecting a trap to spring at any moment.

A watchtower had been erected in the square. Emily assumed a safe position behind a stack of crates as its light passed close by her – then the light went out. The Grand Guard moaned about whale oil never lasting long enough and Emily poked her spyglass out.

Atop a building, a huddled figure was just visible in the shadow of a windmill, leaping down from the platform where the lever was placed.

The figure turned and the glint of a golden eye confirmed who she was.

A moment later, Grim Alex skittered down a drainpipe and flitted to Emily’s side.

“Was that good?” She asked, with a pride tinged with anxiety.

“That was great.” Emily nodded and was rewarded with a glowing smile that might have been pleasing if her teeth hadn’t been fangs, “You wouldn’t happen to have seen a black market shop around here, would you?”

“Behind those buildings. On Amparo Plaza. Do you want to know what else I found out? Something the Duke doesn’t want you to know?” She leaned in like a child telling a great secret, “The owner of the Wilmslow Safe shop had an apartment with a balcony. It’s high up and overlooks the Grand Palace. Duke Luca told the Grand Guard to seize it but they didn’t get his key. He still has it.”

A high balcony overlooking the Grand Palace. It was an excellent way past the barrier, “That’s handy. You did good, Grim Alex.”

“Thank you, Empress.” Grim Alex gave a little bow, “Would you like me to skulk around the Grand Palace and see if I can find more interesting things for you?”

“Alright. Just be careful and don’t get caught.”

“I won’t, Empress. You’ll be proud of me.”

She leapt up onto the façade of the next building and scrambled up to the roof, leaving Emily feeling rather jealous. That ability seemed so much more useful than Far Reach. It might have been her imagination but the mark on her hand gave a little flare at that though. As if the Outsider was telling her to be grateful for what she had.

And, Emily felt she ought to be. Grim Alex had been right about the black market shop and the key in the Wilmslow’s cash register. When Emily appeared on the balcony, she found Grim Alex waiting for her at the old railcar station with another gleeful smile on her face.

“What have you found?” Emily asked, trying not to be unnerved by the slight desperate fawning in Grim Alex’s aspect.

“I know where the two Dukes are. One is in the office and the other in his quarters. I couldn’t tell them apart but I bet you could. With your talking heart, you could.”

The mention of the Heart sent a small pang through Emily’s chest. This would be the last night she would hold her mother’s soul in her hand. Perhaps, asking her to identify the real Duke from the body double would be the last thing she ever asked of her.

As if on cue, the Heart appeared of its own accord and her mother whispered, “Delilah. Her spirit is familiar to me.”

Grim Alex put her head to one side, staring intently at the Heart, “Is there someone inside? A soul, trapped?” She glanced up and cringed at Emily’s face, “Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry. I won’t say anything about it again.”

“No, no, it’s alright.” Emily let the Heart disappear, trying not to sound as melancholy as she felt, “You’ve done nothing wrong. I’ll see if I can find out which one’s the body double. I think I might have an idea of how I can eliminate the Duke without killing him.”

“Can I – can I follow you?” Grim Alex asked, nervously, “It’s not just guards in the palace. Jindosh’s metal men are marching around too.”

Emily groaned, “Of course, they are.” She’d hoped she’s seen the last of them at Jindosh’s mansion, “Yes, you can follow me to the palace. Keep out of sight and don’t kill anyone but, if you can destroy the clockwork soldiers, I would be delighted.”

“Certainly.” Grim Alex nodded with a Crown-Killer-ish gleeful smile. She hopped over the crates and scampered her way across the dead carriage tracks. Emily watched Grim Alex hop up onto a high lamp and scramble onto the roof.

The first thing that hit Emily as she traversed the tracks was the smell. Karnaca had been pervaded with the combined smell of sickening bloodfly nests, itching dust and a Dunwall-like undertone of fish. None of it was present in the palace. Only a cloying scent of rotting flowers and overripe fruit. A familiar smell, like Dunwall Tower after a party.

It did indeed look like a party was taking place. At least, there were many nobles lounging around, boasting of how elevated they would be once the Duke had cemented his power or complaining of the ‘riff-raff’, _It really is just like Dunwall Tower. Well, at least, I…have better taste in decorations._

The Heart did indeed prove useful in picking out the body double, who sat in the office pouring over papers. If that wasn’t enough, a cigar break and the muttered complaint of having to put on a pound or two more ‘for the good Duke’ confirmed it.

Half an hour later, Luca Abele was being dragged away as a madman and the body double was secure in his place as the Duke of Serkonos. Emily had to hold both her hands over her mouth to stop herself laughing aloud as Luca impotently threatened every kind of torture on the guards for laying hands on him. When she slipped out into the Duke’s private garden, evil cackling came from one of the hedges near the window.

“I saw that.” Grim Alex sniggered, “That was funny.”

“Yes, it was.” Emily nodded, “He should consider himself lucky. Not every doctor would be treat him as well as Dr Hypatia would.”

“Oh, she’d treat him well.” Grim Alex affirmed, “Not kindly but well. She won’t stick an ice pick in his eye and pierce his brain like the other quacks. Oh, yes, they do that to lunatics.” She added at Emily’s stunned look, “Luca Abele is gone. Now, for Delilah. Your way is clear. Look,” She stuffed her hands in her pockets and pulled out a handful of clockwork soldier number plates.

The sight was more welcome as a handful of gold ingots, “Excellent. That should make getting into Luca’s vault easier.”

“Be careful.” Grim Alex put in, “There’s an arc pylon right in front of the door.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Emily said, before tossing down a bottle of Addermire Solution. Stopping Time was tiring work.

One removed whale oil tank later, the arc pylon was dead metal and Emily could open the vault door with impunity.

Grim Alex appeared at her elbow, “The Outsider must favour you. Giving you powers like that.”

“I don’t think he does.” Emily said, “I’m just good at finding runes.”

With the help of the Heart.

What would she do without it?

She almost turned round, ready to ask Grim Alex if she could lift the effigy, before she stopped herself. This was the best way, the only way, to capture Delilah’s spirit. She had accumulated enough powers. Being greedy for more would do her no good.

A clanking in the air and a shuddering in the floor made Emily groan. Without being told, Grim Alex scuttled down the steps and, after a confusion of metal screeches and muddled voice recordings, the clockwork soldier lay in pieces.

“There it is.” Grim Alex pointed with a shudder. The effigy stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by weird vines too real to have been carved, like a ghastly spectre. Emily expected the Heart to be beating, desperate to cling onto what life it had but it was quite steady. His mother was resolute and ready for what came.

Emily tried to emulate her but she still took as long as she could, poking around every shelf for valuables she could sell, even pausing to inspect a broken deer head ornament laid on a candlelit table for reasons she knew not.

At last, there could be no more avoiding it. Emily summoned the Heart to her hand and stood in front of the effigy.

Her mother formed, gleaming as pale as a whale oil lamp, “ _This is it. You must release me from this dead vessel. Only then will you be able to trap Delilah’s spirit._ ”

“I don’t know how I can do this.” Emily admitted. Then, knowing this was her last opportunity to say it, she added, “You were all I ever wanted.”

“ _I’ve stayed as long as I could, trying to guide you. The world is better for your influence._ ”

Emily stretched out her hand and the ghost did the same, “Be at peace, mother. I will honour you always.”

She expected her mother’s hand to be cold. Though it was as light as a baby bird, there was a definite warmth in it, “ _Oh, Emily, I love you and this is the final thought I carry into nothingness._ ” As she spoke, her mother began to disintegrate, her form flying away in shards like a flock of butterflies to disappear – to where?

Emily fought against a lump in her throat and kept her eyes fixed upon her mother’s face until the last. Until she was holding out her hand in empty air.

She dropped her arm, feeling like her own heart had fallen away from her. Then, before she was ready, the effigy’s wings opened and the whole thing glowed with a blinding light. Black tendrils gushed forth, flooding into the empty vessel, and Emily had to clutch it with both hands to keep it steady.

When it was over, the heart had turned a disgusting tar-black, “ _What’s this?_ ” The hated voice of Delilah echoes forth, “ _The Heart of my half sister? Only her flesh remains._ ”

Emily fought down the urge to fling the Heart to the floor and stamp on it but she took a deep breath to compose herself, _It’s only until we get to Dunwall. Then, I can put it back where it belongs._

She turned towards the staircase and saw Grim Alex staring at her with a wide eye and mouth, “That was…your mother…in the talking heart?”

“Yes.” Emily gave a tight nod, “Her soul deserved to be at peace and this was the only way to capture Delilah’s soul.”

Grim Alex still gaped in amazement. Emily waited for her to speak and, at last, “You could have had your mother by your side…and you let her go?”

“She was trapped here.” Emily held up the Heart, “Trapped where she didn’t belong. It was selfish to keep her here past her time. Even if,” Her breath caught in her throat, “even if it was good to have her with me again. Just for a short time.” She sucked in another composing breath and straightened, “So, it’s done. Now, to take Delilah’s spirit back to Dunwall. Is the way to the private dock clear?”

Grim Alex only nodded and mutely followed her back to the door.

They walked down the marble staircase together, stepping over scattered cogs and unconscious guards, to wait for Meagan to arrive. The skiff was a good distance away so Emily had time to put aside the memory of what happened in the vault and ask Grim Alex, “Are you going to come with us to Dunwall? To face Delilah personally?”

Grim Alex turned her face towards the small speck on the horizon that was Addermire and bit her lip in thought, “I want to face Delilah. I want to make her pay for what she did to me but…but I don’t want to leave Alexandria. Delilah might have found out what I did. She might have sent people to hurt her.”

“Go, then.” Emily said, “I can take whatever Delilah throws at me. Karnaca will pull itself back up but it needs Dr Hypatia to recover. She’ll be dropped off at Addermire this evening.”

Grim Alex chewed her lip, “What if…what if Alexandria stays mad at me?”

“She won’t.” Emily reassured, “She’s not angry with you and she doesn’t blame you at all. Go on. Meagan’s going to be here in a minute.”

With one last moment of hesitation, Grim Alex took a run up and leaped off the dock onto a rocky outcrop. From there, she dived straight into the sea and started swimming as swiftly as a shark towards Addermire.

Far away as she had been, Meagan had still seen Grim Alex, “Who was that with you? The one who dived into the sea.”

“The Crown Killer.”

“ _What?!_ ” Having both eyes made Meagan’s look of alarm funnier, “And, you just let her go?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way back. And the Duke has been taken care of, thanks for asking.” Emily lowered herself in the boat and told the tale as Meagan pulled away from the dock.

Emily expected disbelief and disapproval of her decisions to follow it but, after a pause, Meagan gave a nod, “That is definitely something Delilah would do and something not beyond the reach of her powers. So, that’s the last enemy out of the way. I was worrying you would have to face her in Dunwall.”

Dr Hypatia and Sokolov were standing on the deck when they reached _The Dreadful Wale._

“So, the Duke is out of play?” Sokolov asked without needing to, “And, you’ve done whatever it is you need to make Delilah mortal?”

Emily nodded and Meagan put in, “And, she’s made friends with the Crown Killer to boot.”

Sokolov started but Dr Hypatia smiled and looked even happier when Emily told her Grim Alex had returned to Addermire, “I’m so glad she’s alright. The last few years must have been a living nightmare for her. I’d better get going right away.”

She only had two boxes of freshly made medicines to transport back with her so the moment of parting came much sooner than Emily would have liked.

“I know I can never thank you enough for saving my life.” Dr Hypatia said, clasping both Emily’s hands, “For saving me, Grim Alex and Karnaca. There’s not many people who would be as careful and level-headed as you after going through what you did but I can tell you have a strong head on your shoulders. I know you’ll be able to overthrow Delilah and become the best Empress for years.”

Emily’s cheeks flushed, “Thank you, doctor. I wish you well with your work.”

Dr Hypatia thanked her again and, with a small bow of the head, she climbed into the skiff with Sokolov. Emily watched her until the skiff became just a dot on the horizon and waited without moving for Sokolov to return alone.

“Nothing for us left to do here, then.” Meagan said, “Let’s set a course for Dunwall.”

Anton followed Meagan to the bridge, saying he was curious to see how his new modifications to the control panel were getting along. Emily traipsed down to her cabin for a long sleep. The day had been both physically and emotionally draining.

It was when she was hanging up her coat and her scarf that she looked at her left hand and a cold rush of horror hit her like a bucketful of icy water.

“My ring! It’s gone!”


	6. Yet Another Strange Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The penultimate chapter! Now, I know I said that I would post one chapter every week but I'm going to be very busy next weekend so the final chapter will be posted two weeks from now. However, I do hope to find time to work on something else which I hope will be worth the wait.

Emily scoured every inch of the ship but her ring was gone. She tried not to breathe too fast in panic and remember when she had last had it. She was sure she had it on this morning but had she really? She hadn’t been keeping as close an eye on it as she should have been. And she had promised herself she would never let it leave her finger again!

There were too many places she could have let it fall from her finger. On the journey to the Palace District, Ravina Boulevard, the Grand Palace – they all whirled around her head as she at last gave up the search. She sat down on her bed, her left hand clasped in her right like it had sustained a crippling injury.

It was too late to make Meagan turn the ship around now. Even if she did go up to the bridge to beg, Meagan would refuse, perhaps make a scornful remark about worrying more about losing jewellery than her crown.

 _Besides,_ said a heartless voice in her head, _you needed to change that ring anyway. They’ll have probably found the safe room by now and might have even made a duplicate key for it. And, even if it wasn’t, you can always have another one made when you get back._

These cold logical assertions didn’t stop Emily feeling like she’d abandoned a close friend. Or, her father all over again. When he was turned back from a statue, he would ask her where her ring was. He would be so furious with her for losing it.

She looked up for a last desperate search around the cabin. Perhaps, she had just dropped it as she was getting undressed.

But, the cabin had altered. A familiar pervading cold blew through her and the rush of wind floating past her ears.

“What now?” Emily grumbled, “Is it going to be the Outsider or Delilah?” Neither of them would be very welcome at this moment.

She opened the door to her cabin and was greeted not by blank stone or knarled branches but by an imitation of tiled floors leading up towards a floating island. Unlit chandeliers hovered, hanging from scraps of rock, and a vase of rotting flowers spun lazily in space beside her.

Everything looked a lot neater than the Outsider or Delilah’s corners of the Void. The doorway leading up to the island was a little off-centre but its wrought iron, glass covered gates were intact and swung open as Emily approached.

 _They look like the gates in Addermire._ Emily thought. Then, she was the reason why.

Dr Hypatia was standing at a table daubed with electric blue paint. The air around the table’s surface warped and shuddered like a heat haze and, floating in the middle of it, hung a small silver ring.

Dr Hypatia looked up, giving Emily a start. Until then, she’d thought the doctor was just another still image. She gave Emily a smile, “Oh, it worked! First, let me just say I’m sorry for stealing your ring. I needed something unique to you that you would miss to bring you here.”

Emily couldn’t think of a thing to say. She felt alternately stupid for not thinking that it might have been stolen, stunned that Dr Hypatia had been the thief and totally confused as to why Dr Hypatia would use it to bring her into the Void.

“Since when have you been a witch?”

“Since today. I’m surprised how easily I’ve taken to it. Magic and natural philosophy really aren’t that different, after all.”

“Why did you bring me here?” Emily asked, keeping her voice as level as possible while dropping her hands to her weapons.

“Because, I felt this was the best way I could make you understand. Please, just watch and I’ll explain everything afterwards.”

Dr Hypatia turned and crossed a thin bridge to a wider island daubed with more shimmering blue paint. This time, it was covered by a wide circle comprised of many rings like the cross section of a tree. Around them were runes, symbols and many other arcane imagery that Emily had seen in the witches’ dormitories at the Royal Conservatory. In the middle stood what looked like the bathroom mirror from _The Dreadful Wale_.

Emily tried to take her ring from the haze but it was as if the air was as solid as glass and she couldn’t even get the tip of her fingernail inside.

“You won’t be able to take it back until I’m done.” Dr Hypatia said from the centre of the circle, “I’m sorry but you really need to see this.”

_She’d better have an amazingly good explanation for all of this._

Dr Hypatia turned to the mirror, took a deep breath and spoke to the mirror, “Full thirty years, my soul was split. As two eyes, we are the same but can never see each other. I call to you, my other self, the other half of my soul. Grim Alex, I named you in my youth and you have followed me all my life. I call upon you with obsidian for bringing forth buried thoughts, dragon newt flesh for opening the mind, rose petals for deflecting the eyes of evil, aloe for easing pain, vervain for cleansing grief and celestite for banishing fear. I call upon you, Grim Alex, to appear before me in this glass.”

The blue paint glowed with a faint iridescence, shifting through all colours.

“Mirror reflects the face, eye sees the self, eye opens the soul.” The image in the mirror began to blur and distort, “I have known you in my soul. Let me see you with my eyes. Appear in the mirror before me and let me see you at last.”

The image adopted new colours and a different shape. Grubby grey replaced the sensible blue of Dr Hypatia’s outfit. The face became grey, a hood appeared over the hair, one eye became obscured and the other turned bright yellow. Emily didn’t need to wait for the image to sharpen to know it was Grim Alex.

“It’s worked.” She said, her raspy voice echoing faintly.

“It did.” Dr Hypatia smiled, “How strange it is to be talking to you face-to-face after all this time. Somehow, I thought you would be taller.”

“We can’t have everything in this world.”

“True. I wish we could have more time to talk. I’m afraid we need to get a move on or the spell will dissipate.”

“Oh, alright. Are you ready for this?”

“I am.” Dr Hypatia took a deep breath and continued, “Eye meets the image, image touches the soul, souls join together. I feel your love for me. Your regret for what is past. Your rage at Delilah. Your hunger to atone, to make up all the wrong you have done to Empress Emily.”

Without a signal, Grim Alex joined in, speaking in unison with Dr Hypatia, “My rage, my regret, my love. We are one in spirit.”

The pair extended their hands, pressing their fingertips against the mirror dividing them. The rings in the circle began to spin independently of each other like a huge complex collection of clocks.

Grim Alex’s voice seemed louder, “I give you my strength so that you may enact our will with unfailing might.”

Dr Hypatia’s voice had a slight echo, “I give you my mind so that you may see our will with clear vision.”

The colours of the paint turning an almost blinding white, starting at the edges and moving in towards the centre. The mirror warped, folding in on itself, making a human shape for the final united phrase, “Souls meet, wills unite, minds align. What was once two, come into one. We will reach our final goal together!”

At the last triumphant word, the spinning rings stopped, fitting together to form a coherent pattern. It was only visible for a moment before, with a chime like a bell and a whale song rolled together, the white paint became blindingly bright, shot inwards and burst out into dissipating fragments.

All traces of the circle and the mirror had vanished. In the middle of the island stood what looked like Dr Hypatia at first but, at closer inspection, she possessed a greyish tinge to her skin and, though her eyes no longer glowed, the yellow colour was startlingly bright, despite keeping the gentle look of the doctor.

She smiled as she looked down at her sharp-nailed hands, “It worked!” Her voice, though definitely Hypatia’s, had a slight echo of Grim Alex’s rasp, “And, it feels wonderful.” She glanced up and at last noticed Emily’s dropped jaw, “Oh, uh, I suppose I owe you an explanation.”

“Yes, please.”

“As you might have picked up, Grim Alex and Dr Hypatia are one and the same. I am not one of them and I am not both of them. I am a mix of the two. I wonder what I should call myself.” She put her finger to her chin in thought for a moment. A very Dr Hypatia-ish gesture, “Perhaps, Grim Hypatia? But, never mind. That’s not the point.

“Dr Hypatia was a very lonely child, left only with a sick mother that she couldn’t cure no matter how hard she tried. Like all children, she made an imaginary friend. Or, in this case, an imaginary sister. While her mother was asleep, Alexandria would dress up as her sister and change her voice to pretend she was in a conversation. It was just a game back in those days. Something to take her mind off her lonely life.

“Then, her mother died. This triggered a change in her, a break between her and her imaginary sister. Without knowing it, she would turn into Grim Alex whenever she was feeling too upset or angry to cope by herself. You must understand that Grim Alex is not Alexandria’s dark side. The split wasn’t between good and evil, only between different parts of Alexandria. In a way, Grim Alex was the child Alexandria never had the opportunity to be. Alexandria would ‘wake up’ and find jars of sweets and even encouraging letters from her sister and not remember buying or writing them.

“So, it went on all through her school days. Alexandria kept her dissociative episodes to herself and Grim Alex never caused any trouble. The worst she would do was shove someone or shout at them if she was really angry but she would rather run than start a fight. She was focused more on making her ‘sister’ happy than getting revenge. When she was an adolescent, Alexandria found some healthy ways of coping with her emotions from a friend studying psychology and her Grim Alex episodes lessened but never went away entirely.

“Then, when Alexandria was apprenticing under an apothecary, her work was hindered by a persistently profit-chasing mine owner. Alexandria was bold enough to send him letters with safety recommendations directly. The apothecary didn’t like that. Safer mines meant less illness and less business for him.

“Alexandria was horrified when he told her as much. She slipped into Grim Alex before she could calm herself and Grim Alex was so angry that she lashed out at him. She only shoved him but he fell right into the wheels of an oncoming railcar. It had been a complete accident. Grim Alex ran before anyone could notice she’d been there. No one suspected Alexandria. To everyone else, it just looked like the apothecary had tripped at an unfortunate moment.

“But, Grim Alex was horrified at what she’d done. She hid it from Alexandria for years and, on the rare moments she came out again, Grim Alex would run without touching anyone. Soon afterwards, she began dabbling in Outsider worship. She couldn’t confess her crime to the Overseers without getting Alexandria into trouble so she confessed it to the Outsider. She performed rituals to bring Alexandria good fortune and happiness and it seemed to work. She became a doctor at Addermire and, in the next few years, she rose to be Head Alchemist. Both Alexandria and Grim Alex were happy.

“Then, the old Duke died and Duke Luca came into power. Alexandria found her requests to improve mine safety denied and Addermire’s funding cut, all done in the Empress’ name. I think you can see why they began to hold a grudge against you. Grim Alex emerged more often as a result of Alexandria’s stress and then what they both feared happened: someone figured out their secret. It was lucky that it was only Vasco, who had been Alexandria’s partner for years. When he told Alexandria what he knew, he promised that he wouldn’t tell anyone and even tried to befriend Grim Alex.

“But, Grim Alex always withdrew to her den at the top of the elevator shaft when she emerged and began praying for the death of the corrupt Duke and the uncaring Empress. Those prayers were answered by Delilah. She called to Grim Alex in the Void and gave her the power to take over at will so Delilah would be sure of her attendance at her return.

“You saw what happened next. Delilah saw the potential of an angry soul hiding within an innocent woman but knew Alexandria would be a hindrance. She wanted to wipe Alexandria’s mind away completely but Grim Alex would never allow it. So, Delilah used her magic to bend Grim Alex to her will and I believe the spell would slowly push out Alexandria as well. Every time Grim Alex emerged to become the Crown Killer, it would take a toll on Alexandria and Alexandria, though she didn’t want to believe Grim Alex capable of murder, soon deduced the truth.

“Through their usual note writing, Grim Alex confessed to her crimes and defended herself with her reasons. Alexandria was devastated but she couldn’t hate Grim Alex. She blamed Delilah but, after a time, came to blame the Duke and the Empress for bringing this on them. Blaming others was all she could do at that point. She couldn’t do anything but watch as the murders kept happening and grow weaker with every mind shift. At last, she became too weak to work and the Duke, worried about her leaking the truth, commanded to have her confined to Addermire and encouraged Dr Croton to let her die as soon as possible.

“Then, he went to Dunwall and, well, you know what he did there. When news of the Empress’ escape got to Karnaca, Alexandria knew it wouldn’t be long before the Empress came for her, searching for the Crown Killer. She and Grim Alex discussed what they would do when she came. Grim Alex wanted to kill you as soon as she laid eyes on you but Alexandria still wanted to give you a chance. It took a few arguments but they decided on giving you a test. Alexandria would play ignorant to Grim Alex’s crimes and pretend to be an ally to you so she would watch your behaviour when you were in hiding. Grim Alex agreed to follow you through Karnaca, observing your actions in the city. They would decide if you should die when the Duke was overthrown.

“I’m happy to say you passed their test. You were careful. You showed mercy and sagacity in your journey through Karnaca. You even showed kindness to Grim Alex and helped free her from Delilah’s control. So, the two of them decided to turn their backs on Delilah and to serve you. Grim Alex found a spell to bring their two souls together so that they can help you retake your throne. So, here I am.” She spread out her arms, “Grim Hypatia, at your service.”

Emily’s head was reeling. All this time, she had been monitored and judged by someone right by her side. It was as shocking as Ramsey first turning on her in the throne room.

She wished she had paid more attention to the natural philosophers who had made requests for grants for their research. She knew of people with multiple personalities but only from fiction, which was far away from what Grim Hypatia described.

“So, now, you two are one.”

“Yes. Both of them are joined by their one goal and became me.”

Emily couldn’t help but say, “Two minds in one. Must be a bit of a headache.”

“It feels strange, I won’t deny, but it feels nice more than anything. I feel more…balanced if that makes any sense.”

“Hold on a moment.” A fault with the plan burst out at her, “You’re still in Addermire, aren’t you? How are you going to help me defeat Delilah from there?”

“Ah, not exactly. When Sokolov dropped Alexandria off, she switched with Grim Alex and doubled back to _The_ _Dreadful Wale._ She got back on and stowed away in one of the lower storage rooms. Once I’ve left the Void, I’ll stay there until we reach Dunwall and then stow away on the skiff. Meagan and Sokolov won’t even know I’m there. Speaking of which,” Grim Hypatia approached the table and scuffed out a bit of the paint circle. The air around Emily’s ring became clear but it still hung in middair, “there. As soon as you take your ring, you’ll leave the Void.”

“How will you be getting out?”

“The same way I came in.” Grim Hypatia pointed at what looked like a door painted on thin air with whale oil at the side of the island.

Emily decided that all this information was best digested in private and plucked her ring from mid-air. The last she saw of Grim Hypatia was her mild smile and her words of, “See you in Dunwall,” before, with a flash of white light, Emily found herself standing in her cabin again.

 _Well,_ she thought, looking down at her ring, _this is another surprise. At least, it’s a pleasant one for a change._ The cold metal on her finger gave her a powerful wash of relief, _Right, this time, this is never leaving my finger again. I might ask Sokolov to make some kind of clamp._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mimicked the structure of Delilah's spell at the end of 'Brigmore Witches' when writing Hypatia's spell. Mostly because that sounds more mystical and because I am hopeless at rhyming and so couldn't do a spell like the witches in the greenhouse at the end of Dishonored 2.
> 
> I can't quite decide what Dr Hypatia and Grim Alex would do in High Chaos. Not this, certainly. I'm mentally exploring some very dark possibilities but I won't put them down here. I want to keep my options open.
> 
> And, yes, I do like Steven Universe, if anyone's wondering.


	7. Death to the Empress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and the last chapter is ready to go! And the surprise is...illustrations. I'd hoped to put them on this site but, after a few complications, I've decided to post them on my tumblr around. I'll post them one a day until Friday and you can view them here: http://leonanette.tumblr.com/tagged/the-duality-of-dr-hypatia
> 
> Now, before you comment, I must ask that you don't mention any Death of the Outsider spoilers, please. I haven't played it yet so any similarities are purely accidental.

Emily tried looking out for signs of Grim Hypatia as they journeyed north but, aside from a missing piece of fruit or two and a tin of coffee left open, she would indeed have no idea they had a stowaway.

            Her watching didn’t stop her noticing a change in Meagan’s behaviour. As they got closer and closer to Dunwall, she became much more distant, even by her standards. She was finding it difficult to meet Emily’s eye and, twice, she looked as if she was about to say something to her then lost her nerve and stalked back to the bridge.

            Sokolov was a much better conversationalist. He was putting the finishing touches on a painting of her that Emily never sat for but looked as good as any royal portrait. She told him she would pay him handsomely for it but he waved off her offer, saying that he’d received enough payment from her family over the years.

            “I’m assuming you don’t want that?” He jabbed his brush at the portrait of Delilah.

            “I might keep it. Just as a reminder to hold onto what I have.”

            “A somewhat masochistic wish but too few people learn the lessons of the past. I’ll have these portraits sent to you when all this is over and the postal service is back on track.”

            The Dunwall skyline was so familiar that Emily could have sketched it with her eyes closed but that was the only familiar sight as they dropped anchor a little way off from the dock. Whaling ships lay askew and half-sunk in the water, faint screams could be heard from the buildings, the sickening smell of rotting fruit and meat drifted over the water and a poisonous green tinged the sky.

            _Must be Delilah’s magic._ Emily thought, as she surveyed the ruined streets through her telescope, _Outsider only knows what she’s done to Dunwall Tower. Or, how many of my citizens she’s tormented._

            “ _You will never gain back what you lost here._ ” The Heart whispered unbidden from her hand.

            “Quiet, you.” Emily tossed the Heart back into the Void. She’d had to put up with Delilah’s spirit taunting her all the way to Dunwall and, more than once, she’s considered flinging the thing into the sea.

            _When I’m on the throne again, my first order of business will be to give this hand a good scrub._

            Before she set off, Emily met with Meagan and, at last, found out the reason for her behaviour. So, she had been one of the gang that murdered her mother. She didn’t remember her voice from any of the Whalers but there was no lie in Meagan’s face. The impulse to draw her sword and drive it through her chest grabbed her for a moment but it was gone the moment she remembered who was watching and who she would disappoint.

            So, she turned her back on Billie Lurk and climbed into the skiff alone, _If Samuel Beechworth could see me now. I can almost hear him, ‘Remember to get the tiller in the right place before starting the engine, girl – I mean, Your Majesty’._

            The skiff cut a smooth path through the water. Emily was a little unnerved at how little resistance she’d encountered so far. She’d expected sea monsters to come up and pull her down or waves to suddenly toss her all over the place.

            “Hello!” Emily nearly fell out of the boat with shock. Grim Hypatia was poking her head from under the bench and pulled herself up onto the seat beside Emily, “Looks like I got away with it there.” She turned her eyes up to Dunwall, “It looks awful. Alexandria has visited Dunwall in happier times. Delilah really has brought it to ruin.”

            As if summoned by her name, the Heart appeared, “ _Take me to Dunwall Tower. Bring me back to the cage of my own chest_.”

            “Oh, I can’t wait to put you back.” Emily snarled but the Heart went on.

            “ _You let your mother slip into oblivion. Do you know where my mother is resting? In a child’s coffin, her skinny legs tucked under her, because I couldn’t afford a proper burial while my father rests in the Imperial Crypt._ ”

            But, Emily had reached the end of her rope, “Well, I’m sorry for all that’s happened to you, I really am, but that’s no excuse for everything you’ve done to me or to Dunwall. In case you haven’t noticed, I lost my mother and I was driven out of Dunwall Tower too but I didn’t go on a rampage and ruin Karnaca for a selfish revenge crusade. I did what was best for everyone with the bad hand I was dealt so why couldn’t you? My mother’s proud of what I’d done. Could your mother say the same if she could see you now?”

            The last part had been said out of sheer pettiness and Emily regretted it even as she was saying it but it shut Delilah’s spirit up. She could feel the Heart vibrating slightly, as the spirit was silently seething, as she banished it back to the Void.

            Grim Hypatia tactfully didn’t comment on the exchange, though Emily knew she must have heard what the Heart said. Emily docked the boat at a little beach next to the docks and they both climbed out onto the marshy sand. The pervading cold around them was more like the Void than a Dunwall winter and the smell was even worse on shore.

            Grim Hypatia reached into a bundle she’d brought and took out some familiar grey bandages.

            “I don’t know if Delilah is strongly connected to her spirit and I’m not sure if she knows Grim Alex has defected from her or not.” She explained as she wrapped them around her face, “I think it’ll be best if I go in looking like Grim Alex, in any case. If no one reacts, I’ll scout up ahead and see how many witches are hanging around the streets. I could see if I can find you a secret way into the Tower too.”

            “That would be great.” Emily nodded, “I don’t think Delilah knows we’re here yet. We would have come across more resistance by now if she did.”

            “I hope so.” Grim Hypatia had finished bandaging her face and pulling on the grubby grey coat, “I’d love to see the look on Delilah’s face when she finds out.”

            “So would I. I’ll see if I can find any survivors around here. If you’re not back in half an hour, I’ll start my way up the street.”

            “Alright. See you in a bit.” Grim Hypatia took a running leap and, with the same annoying grace, she climbed the dock and leapt over the buildings towards the wall.

            Emily Far-Reached up to the dock and looked around. The last time she had stood here, she had just finished hiding some unconscious guards and looking around to make sure that no one was following her. It had been unusually quiet then, devoid of the yelling deckhands, groaning cranes and arguing passengers. Now, it seemed dead. Not even a guard walked the streets. The air was thick with rot, insects buzzed everywhere and the only lights were from scattered fires.

            She had never visited the Flooded District before or after the draining, relying only on reports from her father. He had never spoken in detail but she thought that this must be as close as she was going to get to those dying streets. Emily climbed on top to the building for a better look. She looked around with relief at the sound of voices but deflated once she saw their clothes and heard what they were talking about.

            _Hatters. Haven’t Dunwall’s people suffered enough already without being kicked while they’re down by gangs? At least, the Howlers had a bit of compassion._

            A minute later, the unconscious Howlers were tucked away behind a crate and Emily was making her way into the black market shop. Emily knew from her night time excursions that this had once been a successful pub. While some of the price lists were still hanging on the wall, the bar had been cleared and a shop front hastily set up.

            _At least, there’s some kind of trade going on. Delilah hasn’t completely locked down the city. I wonder if she knows her magic has limits. Or, if she’s just letting us think that._

Her arsenal of sleep darts topped up and a key to the city watch armoury dangling at her belt, Emily left the shop. The first thing that met her eyes stopped her dead. A gibbet set up on the other side of the road with two City Watchmen hanging side by side.

            She had no idea who they were but it hit her like they were close friends. She summoned the Heart.

            “How many of my people has you killed? Just what was this trying to prove?”

            “ _I had the strength to deal with traitors properly. If you had, you would still have your throne._ ”

            “No, I wouldn’t.” Emily retorted, “If you need to kill to keep your throne, then you’re only showing you’re not worthy of sitting on it.”

            She banished the Heart, strode towards the bodies and swiped her sword through the rope. The bodies sank to the ground, decomposing joints sending up a plume of stench, but Emily still manoeuvred their limbs until they were lying flat on the pavement.

            It was as she was moving the second guard’s mouldering hand to his chest that Grim Hypatia appeared at her side.

            “There’s more of those gallows ahead.” She informed Emily, “And a handful of witches. That secret room you talked about is no-go, I’m afraid. Delilah’s blocked the passage.”

            _Damn! And, how many of my things has she destroyed along with it?_ “And, you’re sure the witches think you’re on their side.”

            “Yes. One of them drove a wolfhound away from me.”

            “There are wolfhounds up there too?”

            “I’m afraid so. I think they used to belong to the Overseers. It looks like they tried to storm Dunwall Tower but they, ah, didn’t succeed.”

            Emily’s heart sank past her toes and through the cobblestones, “How many dead?”

            “Many.” Grim Hypatia’s mouth drooped in just the way Dr Hypatia’s did when she talked about a patient she couldn’t save.

            Emily sucked in and let out a deep breath to compose herself.

“Thanks. I’ll start making my way up to Dunwall Tower now. There’s a door that leads out to Coldridge Canal in the armoury. It’ll be a safer way in than the front gates.” _Is Delilah even bothering to lock people up? Or, is she just killing them when they step out of line?_

“Sounds like a good plan.” Grim Hypatia nodded, “I’ll follow you and help you out in you get into trouble.”

“Thanks.” Emily repeated. Grim Hypatia turned and scrambled up the wall again while Emily, on a tiny impulse to show off, Far-Reached atop a derailed train car and crept across it into the main thoroughfare past the witches and over the wolfhounds.

The Overseer massacre was worse than Grim Hypatia had described it. Emily tried to count all the bodies but gave up after twenty. The mark on her hand gave a little tingle, as if reminding her of what the Overseers would do if they found it, but she still felt the horror of so much wasted life.

The door to Coldridge Canal was unblocked and Emily waded through the canal before Far-Reaching up the ledges to the Tower Courtyard. Even more Overseer corpses littered the passage towards the gardens, along with several statues in the act of reaching, charging or just cowering. _Delilah’s been using her petrifying trick again._

Once she’d dodged around the bloodvines and crept into the gardens, Grim Hypatia crept up beside her, “There are a lot of witches up ahead. And their gravehounds. I can’t find any secret entrances to the Tower, I’m afraid. You’ll just have to be quick going in the front. But, your Majesty?” Emily turned to see Grim Hypatia biting her lip, as if what she was saying was costing her, “These witches, they’re not like Grim Alex. They love serving Delilah and do terrible things for fun. I know you’ve been avoiding murder and I respect you for it but…if it comes down to it…I won’t blame you if you kill them in a fight. I might even do it myself if it comes to that.”

Emily frowned, “Delilah is on the throne because she persuaded people that I’m a murderer. I won’t become what Delilah wants me to be. Besides, if this is anything like dealing with Ashworth, the witches will lose their power as soon as Delilah’s dealt with.”

“That’s probably true. I know that Alexandria and Grim Alex will be separate personalities again once Delilah’s power is broken. But,” Again, Grim Hypatia weighed her words carefully as she said, “the thing with choosing not to kill is that your victims won’t always be grateful. You’ve been lucky that your father’s victims in the time of the rat plague never came back to haunt him but someone failed to deal with Delilah the first time around and the Empire bled for it. Do you really want to risk such a thing happening again? Isn’t it a good thing to let one person die for the good of everyone else?”

Emily closed her eyes and thought for a moment. She couldn’t deny that Grim Hypatia made a good point. Dunwall had been brought to its knees by Delilah. If she failed to eliminate Delilah decisively, she might come back and Outsider only knew what would happen then -

But, she would not become a murderer, “So long as there’s the option not to kill, I’ll take it and I’ll take whatever consequences come of it.”

“Alright.” Emily couldn’t tell if Grim Hypatia looked relieved or disappointed, “I’ll meet you inside the Tower. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tell you where Delilah’s lurking.” Grim Hypatia scurried away, leaving Emily to wonder whether that question had come more from Dr Hypatia or from Grim Alex.

She had learned from the Royal Conservatory that the witches were best avoided. In any case, they seemed too busy boasting about their gravehounds were or chanting over paints in the greenhouse. It was still a strain not to lash out at them when she saw the huge fire of treasured ornaments in the middle of the courtyard.

 _Ornaments can be replaced._ Emily told herself sternly, _Empresses can’t, no matter what Delilah thinks._

Still, she couldn’t resist sneaking around the witches to the gazebo where her mother’s memorial stood. She had to pinch herself to stop the encroaching memories of Whalers leaping over the walls and a man in red grabbing her arm as she approached the tablet. Delilah had defaced the flagstones with petty, spiteful words but the memorial itself was still intact, thank the stars.

“Mother, I wish we could talk just one more time.”

She might had stayed there for hours had a gravehound not chosen that moment to walk up the steps. With a yelp between her teeth, Emily Far-Reached away and ran across the battlements to the roof of the pump room. She sat hunched in the shadows for several long breathless moments until the gravehound decided not to chase her further and the witches around it said, “Must have been chasing a rat.”

Emily trailed along on the narrow ledge leading around the Tower, for once glad of the murky light and praying that none of the witches had Dark Vision.

Grim Hypatia had been right. There was no ventilation shaft door to help her in so she was forced to wait, Far Reach quivering in her hand, for the sentry witch to turn her back. As soon as she hit the ground, she pivoted, pulled open the door and whipped inside in less than a second.

She almost didn’t recognise the place. Furniture was piled in high, blocking the doorway from the vestibule to the entrance hall. No lamps were lit and the place had the same murky green air as outside. The smell of overripe fruit, flowers and flesh was almost overpowering in the enclosed space. Just beyond the barricade, she saw the High Overseer’s corpse nailed to a stake in the foyer.

Emily squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face away from the gruesome sight. Yul Khulan had been second only to her father in guiding her reign. She had failed to save one. Was there any hope of saving the other?

“Psst!” Grim Hypatia crouched in the shadows to her right, a few feet away from the elevator to the throne room, “Over here, quick!” Emily crept across the vestibule towards her and, as she heard witches talking nearby, she closed the doors, “Good. We mustn’t be seen talking. First, there’s no chance of getting to Delilah right now.” She pointed backwards at the dead elevator, “The Overseer assault might have failed but it scared Delilah enough for her to bar anyone from going up to the throne room. She’s turned off the power for good measure.”

“Right. I’ll have to make a detour to the security room then.” _Nothing’s ever easy._

“Make sure you keep out of sight. There are witches everywhere and I’m certain there’s a clockwork soldier or two in these halls.”

“Of course, there is.” Emily groaned. There had been at least two in the throne room on the day she was driven out of the Tower. How could she have forgotten?

“I could help you get rid of them but, if a witch catches me, there’s no way I could give her a good excuse and she’d be sure to inform Delilah immediately. Not that that’s important at this point. I could start fighting for you openly right now if you want.”

Emily thought for a moment, “I’d rather keep you as my secret weapon. I’ll do my best to stay out of sight but, if I get in a fight, don’t intervene. And, if I die,” She swallowed hard at the thought but reminded herself that the Empire came first, “carry on my mission. Delilah must be brought down, even if I’m not there to take her place.”

Grim Hypatia looked stunned at the responsibility laid at her feet. Then, a Dr-Hypatia-like resolve entered her eye and she nodded, “I will. Oh, and, since you’re thinking about non-lethal methods, you should know that Delilah was spending an awful long time in the Overseer chapel before she locked herself in the throne room. It sounded like she was trying out some magic there and, if magic really is just like natural philosophy, spells can be very delicate procedures. The slightest thing gone wrong could have dire consequences.”

Emily nodded. Now, that was a good idea, “Thank you. If everything goes well, I’ll see you in the throne room.”

“Take care, Empress.”

Emily decided to investigate the chapel before turning the power back on. No point alerting the witches to anything strange before she had to. It took wading through flooded corridors, climbing a dumbwaiter and tiptoeing along a ventilation shaft over a clockwork soldier but Emily managed to get to the chapel unseen.

_So far, so good. Now, what’s this spell Delilah’s been practising?_

Once she’d closed the doors, she turned to the chapel – and did a double take. A huge leafless tree had sprouted out of the ground, its branches pushing against the walls and leaving the books scattered all over the floor.

_I hope there’s a good gardener left in Dunwall to clear all this up._

Delilah clearly wasn’t as careful as she thought she was. She’d left an audiograph in the open for Emily to play, detailing how the tree had got into the chapel and what she planned for the Empire using this magic. A note left on one of the tables confirmed it. She was going to alter the whole Empire to suit her, to use magic as a shortcut to earn fame and love from her people.

_So, she can’t get it by legitimate means, can she? I won’t allow this outrage. I just hope I’m not too late._

Creating the corrupt rune was easy. At first, she was worried she was going to have to hunt through the palace and the grounds for the ingredients but Delilah had left them all there.

 _Almost as if she wanted me to sabotage it…_ Emily glanced around but saw only tangled branches and heard only the distance clanking of a clockwork soldier.

Just like the pure runes Emily had created from scraps of whale bone, she put all the ingredients together, hovered her left hand over the pile and focused hard on what she wanted the rune to do. With a fiery orange-yellow glow, the ingredients were brought together to form the corrupt rune. Emily picked it up with just her fingertips to attach it to her belt, trying not to theorise whose skull she had just used.

_I am definitely giving my hands a good scrub after all this._

One tense trip to the security room and a heart-racing journey around grumbling witches later, Emily was back in the vestibule and hadn’t been confronted by anyone or anything. When she called the elevator, she was almost caught off-guard by the gravehound waiting in it. She jumped to the side just in time and managed to snipe its head with her crossbow.

It didn’t go unnoticed. A red-jacketed witch whooshed into view and ran into the elevator to inspect the shards. Emily huddled on top of the crates, wondering if she was worth a sleep dart.

After a while, the witch decided to search the place and moved away, giving Emily the space to put her in a chokehold. Once she was safely stowed away under a broken display case, Emily moved into the elevator.

Once on the rooftop, Delilah’s spirit made itself heard again, “ _You will take me back and die by my hands._ ”

Emily scowled but didn’t rise to the bait this time. More gibbets had been erected around the courtyard but no witches patrolled.

_Delilah’s not getting too paranoid, then. I hope she doesn’t suspect anything about Grim Hypatia. And, think of the devil..._

Grim Hypatia was lurking at the side of the throne room building. Emily approached and was greeted with a warm smile, “Good work. I knew you could do it. Delilah’s in there, alright, and she’s alone with her painting. If anything, this looks too easy.”

“It probably is.” Emily nodded, “I know a way I can turn Delilah’s magic against her but I’ll need her unconscious to do it and I have a feeling that putting a sleep dart in her neck isn’t going to cut it. I only know that she can work spells with paintings and turn people into stone. What else can she do?”

“She can make copies of herself. Grim Alex heard her telling Ashworth about it once. She made sentries of her statues and, when someone attacked, she made them into copies to confuse him.”

The image of facing a dozen Delilah’s at once nearly made Emily groan aloud. It was bad enough with just one running around, “If she does that, we’ll need a plan to draw out the real one.” Emily thought hard for a moment, willing the cogs in her head to move faster. Her mind lighted on Grim Hypatia, “Do you know if Delilah suspects you?”

“I haven’t faced her yet but, judging by her mutterings in there, I don’t think so. She’s wondering why she feels cut off from me but I don’t think she believes her spell can be counteracted.”

“Good. Here’s what we can do.” Emily told Grim Hypatia her plan. As an afterthought, Emily decided to give her the crossbow in case she needed to defend herself with a couple of sleep darts and blinding darts.

The plan was refined, approved and they grasped hands, “Be careful, Empress,” Grim Hypatia said, “and, thank you for your trust in me.”

Emily Far-Reached up to the open window Grim Hypatia pointed out. Sure enough, Delilah was adding details to a huge painting of a colourful throne room with the addition of a huge statue of Delilah and adoring crowds. It was utterly grotesque and Emily vowed to put it at the bottom of the sea when she was done.

Delilah suspected nothing as Emily dropped into the ruined throne room ( _I’m going to need an army of gardeners to clear all this up._ ) and she held out the Heart. The spirit was only too glad to return to its body and Delilah was hit in the back with a burst of white light that threw Emily backwards.

“What is this? My spirit returns!”

The Heart melted away from Emily’s grasp and, from her shadows, she watched Delilah hover a foot off the ground, magic circles illuminating at her feet. The painting glowed red and a white tear appeared in the middle, “Enter the canvas and I will show you my vision.”

A whirlwind blew through the throne room towards the painting. With Delilah gone, Emily used the opportunity to hurry to the ruined throne and affix the corrupt rune to the vine. The black oily streaks on the chair told her it had worked.

 _Now, for Delilah. The plan still applies, even if in a painting._ She glanced up and, from the shadows, Grim Hypatia gave her the thumbs up. Emily faced the canvas, stood on the frame and hopped through. There was nothing but whiteness at first then a pale vision appeared. Stone figures faced the huge Delilah statue, in attitudes of applause and adulation, and Delilah sat on a throne at the statue’s feet.

_So, this is the world she dreams about. Disgusting._

Emily mimed a look of terror over her shoulder and Far-Reached to a high ledge to her left to hide behind a crowd of statues.

_Let’s hope none of them are Delilah’s lookouts._

Grim Hypatia entered the painting a second later. Her back was hunched, her nose working at the air and she growled in a very credible impression of the Crown Killer.

As Emily had half-suspected, the Delilah on the throne didn’t budge but another Delilah appeared at Grim Hypatia’s side.

“My dear Grim Alex. This is an unexpected delight. How did you escape my meddling niece?”

“I hid within my sister’s body. Little Emily suspected nothing. She only saw sweet, good Alexandria. She thought nothing of letting her come to Dunwall with her. I feasted on her allies’ flesh and I’ll dine on royal blood tonight.” She scented the air again, “I smell you, little grub. Flying about won’t stop me catching you.”

She turned away from Emily’s hiding place and strode in the opposite direction. Just as they had hoped, Delilah followed, turning her back to Emily. Far-Reaching from statue group to statue group, Emily approached, Stun Mine at the ready.

“It truly warms my heart to see you, Grim Alex.” Delilah said, “My precious Crown Killer, my defender in my hour of need. You are my one last true ally where all others have fallen to little Emily’s scheming. I confess, I thought that you were lost to me too. I felt my grip loosen upon you for a moment.”

“I do not need your grip anymore.” Grim Hypatia said, “I have given myself to your will, my Empress. I will seek out your enemies at your mere command.”

“That’s wonderful to hear it. It’s so good to know I can have someone reliable at my side.”

_If she can be fooled by flattery this easily, she definitely wouldn’t make a good Empress._

Grim Hypatia halted behind a big crowd of people. So did Delilah and Emily. She placed the Stun Mine in front of her but Delilah stood just out of range. Emily was just about to pick it up and place it closer when Delilah said.

“Wait...you look different. You’re close to me but I feel no trace of my spell upon you. I feel...someone else’s magic.”

Grim Hypatia knew the game was up but, to her credit, she didn’t lose her head. She straightened up, pulled off the bandages, turned and looked Delilah right in the face, “That’s right! I’m my own _person_!” At her last word, she wound back her fist and walloped Delilah in the face.

Emily still inwardly cheered as Delilah stumbled back a step. Just a few more steps and she would be in range of the Stun Mine.

“And you’re not my Empress!” Grim Hypatia held up the crossbow and, before Delilah could realise what was going to happen, she was hit with a blinding dart.

Delilah let out a shriek and clutched her eyes, “You wretched little - ” But, she never finished her curse. One shove from Grim Hypatia and she toppled into the Stun Mine’s range. An arc of electricity hit her in the back and she fell, twitching to the ground.

If Emily had any doubts that this was the real Delilah, they were done away with at once. The painting world was completely obscured by a thick dust cloud smelling strongly of dried paint, rendering everything beyond the reach of Emily’s arm invisible.

“We’ve got to put her on the throne.” Emily called over the wind, slinging Delilah over her shoulder, “The corrupt rune’s in place. We just need to put Delilah in position.”

“Mind the bloodbriars!” Grim Hypatia called, just as Emily was about to run into one.

They dodged around the drooping bloodbriars and managed to get to the canvas opening. They jumped through together and the painting sealed itself shut behind them.

“Well, that went well.” Grim Hypatia said, dusting herself off, “I just hope you’re right about that spell.”

Emily paused, “If I am, Delilah will be trapped in her own fantasy world and won’t even know it, much less want to escape again. But,” She added on another thought, “you said that, once Delilah is eliminated, you’ll disappear. Dr Hypatia and Grim Alex will be separated again.”

Grim Hypatia shrugged, “That was always going to happen sooner or later. The spell isn’t supposed to be permanent. I won’t deny that it was a nice experience being both of them but that’s how it should be. It was a privilege serving you, Empress Emily, and Dr Hypatia and Grim Alex say so too.”

Emily privately wondered afterwards how having two minds in one head could ever be pleasant but she was more sorry to have Grim Hypatia disappear. But, she reminded herself that it was a small price for what needed to be done.

She placed Delilah on the throne and the pair of them scurried back to the shadows. Delilah stirred, the whale-oil blue magic surged around her, making a path to the opening canvas again.

“At last!” She gasped in rapture, “What I’ve always deserved! My justice!”

 _Too right, it is._ Emily thought as she peeked out from behind another statue.

“Now, what’s always been marred and distorted will be perfect.”

Emily crept out to hide behind her father’s statue to get a better look at Delilah drifting towards her own prison.

“I’ve waited so long. Sing my songs and lick my flesh! Worship me!”

Emily stepped out from her cover as Delilah vanished into the whiteness and the painting closed behind her. The light vanished and the painting now had a new addition: Delilah sitting on the throne, as still as dried paint.

A gasp from behind her made Emily whip round. Shadows were peeling away from Grim Hypatia, as they had done from Ashworth, and she collapsed to her knees.

“Hypatia!” Emily dropped to her knees beside her and put a hand around her shoulders to steady her, “Are you alright?”

When she looked up, it was Dr Hypatia’s face that greeted her with her mild smile, “I’m quite alright, Your Majesty. No need to worry. The magic just left me in one big shock, that’s all.”

“So,” Emily said slowly, “you’re yourself again? And, is Grim Alex still there?”

“Oh, I think she’s around here somewhere.” Dr Hypatia gestured vaguely at her head, “I would never want her truly gone. She’s been with me ever since I was a girl, after all. I only hope she can recover after all this.”

With a bit of help, Dr Hypatia stood up straight and slipped off the Crown Killer’s grey jacket. She observed Delilah’s painting, “I don’t know about you, Empress, but I think I like it a little better this way.”

“It’s still going in the vaults.” Emily asserted, “Preferably, with an Overseer music box playing at it at all times. Or, even, at the bottom of the sea.”

“I think the vaults would be a better idea. You can check on it easily from there. Then, if Delilah were to escape, you’d have some warning.”

“A good point.”

Dr Hypatia looked around, “You know, I’ve never been invited to the throne room before.”

“It normally looks a lot better than this. No vines, no magic paintings, no...statues...”

Emily’s spirits sank. Dr Hypatia had been returned to normal but the statues hadn’t. They still stood where they were, cringing, lunging or fleeing from the throne. Her father was still reaching for Delilah...would be reaching for Delilah...forever...

“Maybe, that mark of yours will do the trick on the statues.” Dr Hypatia pointed out, “It helped Grim Alex break free of Delilah, after all.”

“Oh, right.” Emily jerked out of her dread as if from a nightmare and something else occurred to her, “Um, I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention this mark to the Overseers after this.”

“I won’t if you don’t mention Grim Hypatia.” Dr Hypatia smiled.

Emily chuckled and turned to her father. She cupped his cheek and her mark prickled with a faint glow of its own. The familiar chin stubble greeted her touch and the stone receded from her father’s face like paint from turpentine.

He swayed slightly as he regained his legs and looked around, bewildered, “Emily, what happened?”

“Let’s sit down. I’ll explain it all.” She glanced at her throne, “Maybe, not there, though. Best leave it for a bit.”

**

_Dr Hypatia refused the offer to become Royal Physician and returned to Addermire. Everyone thinks her Euhorn Cross was for curing the Bloodfly Fever. Only a few people know the truth._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, there you have it.
> 
> I imagine the player having a choice when Grim Hypatia is talking about killing the witches (they can opt for killing the witches), when Grim Hypatia suggests helping Emily fight the witches inside the Tower (losing the element of surprise with Delilah, making the fight with her a lot harder) and during the planning before facing Delilah (the player can choose which weapons, if any, to give to Grim Hypatia and maybe talk strategy).
> 
> The Euhorn Cross is a reference to the George Cross, the highest civilian medal in the UK.
> 
> Remember to check out my illustrations as they're posted and watch out for any future High Chaos variants of this fanfic that might come in the future.


End file.
